Day 2 in San Francisco

Today, Friday, was our first full day in San Fran and we thought we would be highly productive and set out and do a tour on the first day. This turned out to be good and bad. Firstly, many people had warned us about San Fran fog, but we didn't quite understand the nature of this warning until today.

The view from Lombard Street. You can just see the top of Coit Tower on the right.

Our tour started with our guide Elie picking us up and driving us through the different areas of the city. We then went to see Lombard Street which is known as 'The Crookedest Street in the World'. Fun fact, SF actually as another street even worse but this one is prettier! It has a grade of 16% and there are 8 turns in the space of 412 feet. We also had to walk up a few blocks to get to the main part of the street which was a killer introduction to SF hills!

Lombard Street

Now generally there would be a whole heap of other photo stops and little bits I could tell you from the tour but a massive amount of it was disrupted by the fog. Elie said the fog was some of the worst he had seen in the 20 years he has lived in SF and that usually by the afternoon, it clears up, well today it didn't. In fact, it seemed to get thicker. We couldn't see things that were 50ft in front of us. Christie and I didn't even realise we were on the Golden Gate Bridge until Elie told us we were driving over it. Nothing was visible today; Coit tower, the Transamerica building, Alcatraz, the views over the bay, or the Golden Gate Bridge.

This is the view directly out of my bus window on the way to Muir Woods

We were however, able to continue on our tour into Muir Woods to see the Redwood Trees. This was beautiful and while the drive there was covered in fog, once in Muir woods we had clear visibility. Muir woods was beautiful, so peaceful and calming and the trees were massive. our photos can't do it justice. We even got to see a deer!

Can you see me? I'm a bit camouflaged!

A deer!

The next area we were able to see/visit was The Castro, which is San Fran's massive gay community area. There are rainbow flags everywhere and apparently 15% of the SF population is gay. The whole area was so vibrant and cheerful :D

See all the rainbow flags hanging from each building

We then made a quick stop at Haight-Ashbury which is the hippy area and was the centre for 'The Summer of Love' in 1967. Christie and I will go back here later in the week to check out the shops and soak up some of the atmosphere.

The main corner of Haight-Ashbury and the shop on the corner is Ben and Jerry's proudly pronouncing 'Peace, Love and Ice Cream'

Our last notable stop was Alamo Square which is where the 'Painted ladies' can be found. These are a row of seven Victorian homes that can usually be found on postcards and are also well known from Full House. The area itself wasn't all the special and we found far prettier Victorians elsewhere. i guess these are special as they are all in a row but up close, some of them are a little run down (kind of reminded me of the Mona Lisa - not that great up close!)

Alamo Square

The gorgeous Victorian house I found

There were quite a few other areas around SF that we drove through and it was a real pity about the fog. Elie was amazing with his knowledge of all things SF and, had there been no fog, we would have done /seen everything we wanted to in SF. Unfortunately, the weather here is extremely unpredictable so we are going to have to keep trying with some locations. Elie's tour, "Green Dream Tours," I would definitely recommend and it was one of the best I have done during all my travelling over the last few years.

Last Day in Vegas, First Day in San Francisco

Thursday 16th September. This morning we had to say goodbye to Vegas. We did this by visiting the 'Welcome To Las Vegas' sign on the way to the airport.

Unfortunately our flight was delayed, and since travelling already means quite a bit of waiting around in airports, most of our day was lost as we didn't get to our San Fran hostel until after 4pm. Tired and hungry we went across the road to Pearl's Deluxe Burgers and grabbed a yummy, you guessed it, burger. We then booked a tour for Friday and spent the night catching up on emails and blog posts, and also booking accommodation for Vancouver using the free wi-fi in our room (yay!).

Day 4 in Vegas

Today, Wednesday, was our last full day in Vegas. We had a huge list of places we wanted to go and see and things we wanted to do but we ran out of time so we had to cross about half of them off and mark them as 'next time'. What we did have time to do was check out the Venetian Hotel, all set up like Italy, complete with a gondola ride through the hotel.

Gondola rides at the Venetian

Our next stop was the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino where there was plenty of rock memorabilia and some very cool door handles, but not much else.

Hard Rock Hotel door handles

We then headed over to check out the Luxor and also Excalibur. Both have cool outside facades but inside wasn't that great.

The Luxor

For lunch we went to our new favourite, The Hard Rock Cafe, which is almost next door to the MGM (it is not attached to it's hotel). Then back to out hotel room for a little rest.

With my overly sugary mocktail

That night we went straight to the Coyote Ugly Bar in New York New York for 2 for 1 drinks before 9pm. Here we met Nick from Barbados who decided he would tag along on the rest of our adventures for the night.

Coyote Ugly Bar

(can you see all the bras hanging from the roof?)

From Coyote Ugly we walked down The Strip so we could finally see the dancing fountains outside the Bellagio, which we had neglected to see the previous few days. These were quite pretty and danced along to Frank Sinatra's Lady Luck.

Outside the Bellagio

Next stop was Koi night club at Planet Hollywood. The cover was $20 but then it was free drinks for ladies the rest of the night. It took us a while to figure out why our vodka and lemonades tasted funny and then Nick explained to us that when you say lemonade, they give you proper lemonade. You have to actually ask for sprite or you get bloody lemon juice! So bitter I could barely sip it.

At Koi

Our next stop was back at the MGM and we went to Studio 54, based on the legendary nightclub of the same name. Here I finally got my first drinkable drink of the night but the club itself wasn't exactly enjoyable to us. We left Nick here and went to quickly have a go at gambling as we still hadn't done any yet. I won $3 on the slots but lost $25 (the minimum) on roulette. Lucky Christie was really tired and wanted to go as I was all up for having another go! Damn my addictive nature!

Studio 54

Playing the slots

(Fact: the machines no longer take coins!)

Day 3 in Vegas

On Tuesday we got up very early for our 6:30am pick up for a tour to the Grand Canyon. The drive to the West Rim was 3 hours and luckily we were able to get a little extra sleep on the way out there (keep in mind that we are in Vegas and we were out the previous night!).The drive out was pretty cool. We had a quick stop at the Hoover Dam along the way and got to drive through Joshua Tree Forest. Once past there, the scenery was awesome, and we weren't even at our destination yet!

Joshua Tree Forest

Hoover Dam

(note how low the water level is)

The first stop on the tour, once at the West Rim, was Eagle Point, named so as part of the canyon looks like an eagle spreading its wings. This is also one of the most phenomenal views I have ever seen in my life. Words and photos can not describe it and it is completely breathtaking. This spot is also where the famous Skywalk is but we didn't go on it. We didn't really see the point as the view you get from the edge of the canyon walls is brilliant and unobstructed (there are no railings!!!). Eagle Point also has an authentic Indian Village which has native American performances and presentations. We didn't actually get a chance to see these as we were busy looking (and taking funny tourist photos) at the traditional homes.

Eagle Point
(can you see the eagle in the centre of the rock?)

Playing tourist in the houses

The second stop on the tour was Guano Point, which gives you another view point, but over the Colorado River, and also has a market selling handmade Hualapai crafts and jewellery.

At Guano Point

Our third stop was Hualapai Ranch (also known as cowboy town). This was all set up quite touristy but in an authentic way (does that contradict itself?). There were wagon rides led by horses Bonnie and Clyde, goats and horses you could pet (and you could ride the horses), cowboy games and demonstrations such as lassoing, hatchet throwing, bow and arrow training and horseshoe throwing. The ranch was set up like the old wild west with a jail and saloon bar complete with a country music performer and a guy doing magic tricks (don't really know what he was doing there but he was really good!). Mum the view from here (and the other two spots) reminded me off the Native American framed pictures we used to have up in Evans St. It was so surreal and I wish you could have been there!

Yes that's me in the jail cell!

On the wagon ride led by Bonnie and Clyde
(Mum note the scenery in the distance!)

With Bonnie and Clyde
(check out my hideous t-shirt tan which I am now stuck with)

The ride back to Vegas seemed to take far longer than both of us remembered it was on the way there (we must have actually slept more than we thought on the way out!). We were so exhausted and were getting a bit sick of the the older Americans behind us in the bus (very cliche in their comments and behaviour, plus one spent the whole time coughing). Getting back to our hotel about 7pm we decided to have a lie down before going out around 9pm. This didn't happen, we ended up sleeping the whole way through to 9am the next day!

Day 2 In Vegas

Monday, our first full day in Vegas. We set off kind of late to check out all the different hotel and casinos because they are all insane. Mid-morning and early-afternoon we visited Harrah's, Caesar's Palace, the Bellagio, Paris Las Vegas and also the four story M&M building.

That night we then went to check out the Stratosphere Tower (one of the most depressing hotels on the strip) and we didn't end up going to the top of the tower because we just wanted to get out of the hotel. We then visited Circus Circus and then onto The Mirage. Every hour, The Mirage has an exploding volcano attraction which is really pretty cool. It lasts for no more than five minutes but it is still spectacular to watch.


We then continued on to Treasure Island to see the Siren's Battle, which TI puts on four times a night. It is a performance at the very front of the hotel that follows the story of the sexy siren's on one boat, and the pirates on another. The boats move and there are explosions, lots of suggestive comments and actions (kind of exotic dancing with singing and cannonball fire). It is pretty groan inducing but it draws big crowds and is one of the main attractions on The Strip. Oh and, if there was any doubt, of course the Siren's triumphed over the pirates!

First day in Las Vegas

Sunday (12th Sept) we caught a flight from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Neither of us were really that sad to say goodbye to LA although we would have liked to have gotten to go back to Santa Monica again. The flight was only an hour so we were in Vegas by 2pm.

Las Vegas is insane. There isn't really another word for it. After checking in at our hotel, the MGM Grand, we decided to get some food and then take a little walk around the casino. It is massive. It isn't majorly themed like some of the other casino's but still has awe-inspiring aspects. We decided that since New York New York is right next door, we would duck over there and have a peek as well. As the name suggests, it is completely themed to look like New York City, everything from the street signs to the actually hotel buildings and a mini Brooklyn Bridge. We were also given VIP passes to the nightclub there called Rok (no we are not special, any girl can get them).

New York New York Hotel
(yes the whole thing, and that isn't all of it!)

We then headed back to the MGM for a rest so that we could be refreshed for a night out (plus it is 39 degrees here so the heat is a little exhausting). When we woke, the sun had gone down and the view out of our 16th floor window was so cool. The lights from all the hotels looked spectacular and we were ready to party. We headed downstairs to go to NYNY and were given VIP entrance to the club at MGM called Tabu so we thought we my as well go there first as we couldn't get into Rok until at least 11pm. Honestly Tabu wasn't really my cup of tea (read shit music again) and the only good thing is that until 12, girls get free drinks so we stayed for one drink and then headed over to NYNY to grab something to eat and then to Rok. Rok only had slightly better music (I thought given it's name it would play rock music but no), but again we got free drinks so we stayed for that and then left. We also got to watch a rather amusing act of this girl trying to get into Rok with a fake ID that was so obviously not her.

The Strip
(a very small part or it)

Not really feeling in the clubbing mood, but not wanting to sleep just yet, we set off for a walk along The Strip, marveling that we were actually in Vegas. We love it here!

Day 5 in LA

Today was Saturday and we didn't really do alot. We walked up Hollywood Blvd and tried on some clothes and bought a few bits and pieces from Zara and the souvenir shops. We then spent the rest of our day on the internet; catching up on emails, blog posts, and researching stuff, and also doing laundry.

Saturday night we met back up with Nik after he finished work and went to get some dinner with him before Christie and I went to see the Scissor Sisters. They played at The Palladium on Sunset Blvd and were supported by Casey Spooner. The Palladium is a fantastic venue (my photos look like we are further away than we actually were) but it was hilarious to see how long the line was to get in, it wrapped 3/4 of the way around a city block. So many people in LA! At least it was pretty fast moving. The Scissor Sisters would never get that kind of crowd in Perth, and oh wow what an interesting crowd!

In short, the show was AMAZING! It was one of the most highly energized shows I have ever seen.

Day 4 in LA

Today we decided to try and take it easy due to the night before and also my incredibly painful sun burn. After waiting over an hour(!) for a bus, it finally came and we made our way to Warner Brothers Studio's for a tour. This was completely awesome and totally worth the money ($47).

Our tour guide Thom took us around the studio lots and sound stages on a large golf cart showing everything from how the streets get dressed and redressed, certain places where movies and TV shows are made, including the areas used for Gilmore Girls! We got to go onto the sound stage of The Mentalist, look at the props department, the car museum, the general WB museum (coolest one I have ever been to!) which had costumes and props from movies from Casablanca to 300, The Matrix to Where The Wild Things Are, and an entire floor devoted to the real props and costumes used in the Harry Potter movies (including the Sorting Hat, with the same voice, and you could get sorted! I was Griffindor).

Stars Hollow

Lorelai and Rory's house

The Wesley's Ford Angela from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

I would have thought that seeing the Gilmore Girls scenes would have been the best part for me but the best was seeing the set of Central Perk from Friends. So awesome! some places we were allowed to take photos but others not so I don't have any pics of The Mentalist sound stage or the museum.


After the tour we realised we hadn't eaten all day (it was 5pm) so decided to go and have an early dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe on Hollywood Blvd which has only been open for 5 weeks. I haven't been to one before and it was so cool, I felt right at home. Good food, cool cocktails and awesome music! Plus I got a free glass which commemorates the opening. We then did a little souvenir shopping and made our way back to the hostel for an early night, thoroughly exhausted.

Day 3 in LA

On Wednesday we caught a free shuttle from our hostel to Santa Monica Beach with Shae, who is from Melbourne and also staying in our hostel. Oh it's so nice there! It reminded me of being at home (must be the beach, the sun, and the fresh air!) and it was much nicer than central LA. The streets were clean, there were only a small amount of homeless people, and we weren't being bugged ever few metres to do a tour. We walked down to the water, across about 3 times as much sand as we have at home, and then walked along the beach to Santa Monica Pier. We then walked back up to the main streets in Santa Monica (3rd Street Promenade) and had some lunch. Shae then left us to check out Malibu and we had a look at the shops on the Promenade and at Santa Monica Place (mall). The shops are so exciting here (I'm thinking I am only liking them cos we don't have them at home) and we have to stop ourselves buying stuff as we don't really have that much space at the moment to buy clothes (we are thinking we will do most of our shopping in New York towards the end of our trip).

After hanging around the shops we decided to walk to Venice Beach which we were told was only a short walk (20 mins). This turned out to be a lie. It definitely did not feel like a short walk and there is absolutely no shade the whole way there (just the bloody palm trees that look pretty but are completely useless!). We were so exhausted by the time we got to Venice and we were totally disappointed by it. It was just a dirty boardwalk of tacky souvenir shops and we kept getting hassled by the sellers, the homeless and randoms. We high tailed it up to a main street, again nothing special, and it was now, thankfully, that Nik, the guy who sold us phones the previous day, called us to see if we wanted to go get some food. He came and picked us up and we went and had a late lunch/early dinner at Saki House which had yummy Japanese food. He then drove us through LA showing us the UCLA area (which was another nicer area), the mansions in Beverly Hills and other LA spots. By now I have also realised I am severely sun burnt from walking to Venice (for any of you who remember how badly burnt I got at Leavers, it was almost that bad!).

Wednesday night we went on a limo ride(stretch Hummer)/pub crawl organised by the hostel which was good and bad. The music in the limo was terrible (read R&B) but there was plenty of free alcohol for us to drink. The first bar we stopped at, Saddle Ranch, was my kind of place with a kind of outback ranch feel to it with a mechanical bull and awesome music (read rock). The second place we were taken was a night club which I hated. While we were in the line to get in, two guys in front of us started talking shit (trying to convince us they were famous). We stayed with them inside long enough to get free drinks. The club itself was called Ecco and it was skanky and had shocking music (cue me being miserable).

We left about midnight and walked back to our hostel a few blocks away with the intention of going to bed but when we got back to the hostel, Shae was back from Malibu and sitting in the courtyard drinking with a bunch of people so we joined them and then the three of us, plus Alex from Toronto, decided to go and try to find some food. You would think it would be pretty easy to find food (especially when you are drunk and hungry) at 1am on Hollywood Blvd. It is not easy! But we did have an awesome time wandering along the Walk of Fame taking silly photos of us and talking to other random tourists and locals. We did eventually find food at Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits (omg disgusting! and the biscuits are scones!) and had a random conversation with a homeless guy about how amazing his teeth were (don't worry Mum, we were in a 'restaurant' and we were with the guys so we were pretty safe).

Such a crazy random good and bad day!

Day 2 in LA

Every Tuesday night, the hostel gets musicians in to play in the lounge/bar. There are singer/songwriters and bands so we listened to those for a little while and had $3 drinks. Apart from this, I had yet another terrible night sleep, I think I got about 4 hrs but this time it wasn't due to the noise. I believe I have become nocturnal as I feel asleep on the bus a couple of times today!

So today we decided to go on the hop on-hop off bus that takes us around Hollywood and Beverly Hills. It was really tacking but at least we got rides to some of the places we wanted to go and we got out of Hollywood Blvd. The Sunset Strip looked better than 'our' end of Sunset Blvd but we decided not to get off the bus. Instead we took a ride to The Grove, which is a cute shopping area, and I became very overwhelmed by all the books (well all the YA ones we don't have and the huge range available here) in Barnes and Nobel. I believe a few boxes will be getting sent home.


We then got back on the bus and went to Rodeo Drive, and while it is nice and expensive, we weren't going to go into the shops, if they would have even let us! One of the stores, Bijan, you could only go into if you had an appointment and suits started at $15 000! Below is a picture of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Rodeo Drive (the hotel used in Pretty Woman).


Some of the other sights we saw from the bus were Whisky-A-Gogo, The Viper Room, La Brea Tar Pits, Paramount Studio and Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

We have had major problems getting sims for our phones and everyone has been really unhelpful except for one guy in a stationary store. We weren't able to buy a sim card separately but we have US numbers now so that's good. The guy who sold them to us wants to show us around Santa Monica and Venice Beach tomorrow so looks like we have local guide which will be good.