The following day we slept in before heading into town in search of the Willis Tower which is Chicago’s tallest building. Great view and in the lobby they had a great display of history and facts surrounding Chicago and what it is known for. We then headed across town in search of Millennium Park to check out “the bean” which is a massive aluminium bean shaped sculpture. Pretty sick and a great way to get some fish eye shots of the city skyline haha. That night we met up with Jason Shroeder, a mate I met all the way back in [View Full Entry]

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The original plan was to get a bus to Chicago but after some extensive research of flights we decided it would be much more economical to just fly. At this point Kaz was still in hope of somehow obtaining Oprah audience tickets so we agreed to spend a couple of nights in a posh hotel firstly to get a bit of a break from hostels, but also because she heard the concierge of particular hotels can sometimes acquire tickets. It didn’t happen but it was nice to sleep in a private room for the first time this trip. We stayed 2 [View Full Entry]

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The flight to Cleveland was exciting. I hadn’t seen Kazzy in over 5 months by this point so I was pretty anxious on the plane. I didn’t realise but for whatever reason, the connecting flight from Chicago was actually different to the one I booked online. Don’t know why the airline did this but it meant my transit was longer and poor old Kazzy was stuck waiting at the airport for 2 hours longer that she should have. Sorry Kazzy. It meant I didn’t end up getting in till about 11pm but who cares, I made it. Was great to finally [View Full Entry]

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My final day in San Fran and I decided to get out of the city and see the some of the country side. I went on a tour of local wineries in the Napa Valley which was really fun. Learnt alot about tasting and what I should be looking for in a wine. Up until now I had no clue so that awesome. We went to 3 wineries in all. All of them were private and so you can’t even buy their stuff in stores but the biggest one was owned by the family Jacoozie which is the same family that [View Full Entry]

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I knew today would be another big day. I decided to get a tour of SF to really get in touch with what the city is all about. 10am I was on the mini bus with a local who took us to all the places you just wouldn’t go if you didn’t have a car. This guy Dylan, who was a local, took us to all parts of the city. Neighbourhoods that were decorated in murals, the gay district, Haight-Ashbury (mum/dad you would know this right?), twin peaks which gave us a magnificent view of the city as well as the [View Full Entry]

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The next day I got up early. Took a trolley (tram) down to fishermen’s wharf to check it out and fill in some time before I took the ferry over to Alcatraz. Was a little cold on the trip over but not too bad? Was an awesome island though. They gave you a listening device which was like a self guided tour through the main cell block. It was good cos you could do it at your own pace and take it all in. Was a little eerie. Made you feel very alone almost, being not only behind bars but also [View Full Entry]

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A cheap united flight (40 bucks) and an hour or so of my time and I land in San Francisco. The original plan was to drive from LA up the coast to San Fran but time restraints meant I would be rushing and by the sounds of it...the drive is so amazing you don’t want to have to rush. I plan to maybe drive back it on the commute back down to LA for when I fly home. Let’s hope I can. Anyway, a train ride in and a 10 min walk up a vertical hill (20kg on my back = [View Full Entry]

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We spent the weekend pretty chilled out which was cool. Good to relax a bit. After a sleep in Ben and I drove down across town to one of the more amazing locations in San Diego - Coronado. If you have heard of this place, it is probably because of the Hotel Del Coronado - a very old, very large and very incredible hotel that sits right on the Coronado beach. Ben and I decided to lap up a bit of this glorious beach (I swam and he fell asleep) before checking out the hotel and grabbing some lunch. The water [View Full Entry]

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Day 2 and I geared up again to venture off this time in search for animals we tend to find more under the water, rather than above it. Some might remember sea world from the movie Free Willy although as much as I hoped it was, I don’t think that movie was actually based in San Diego. Not sure where it was but it didn’t matter. They called the whales Shamu. I don’t know where the name came from but that is what the show is called at every SeaWorld. To see those whales up close, performing tricks and interacting with [View Full Entry]

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The bus trip down to San Diego was ok. It took the freeway which is the inland/more direct route so I missed the scenic OC coastline but that was expected. Ben picked me up from the bus depot and quickly whisked me off to a Mexican restaurant where 4 of his new colleagues were having dinner. See Ben has only just started this job himself and so is still getting to know the people he will be working with. The week I was with him he had an orientation and so many of the nights were spent drinking and getting to [View Full Entry]

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