Day 32 - Back on Land

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Well I awoke around 6.30AM and peeped out the windows to see that we had arrived back at San Pedro Pier. We had chosen to do the self disembarkation which allowed us to take our own luggage off the ship.

We had to meet in the Explorer’s Lounge at 8.15AM, so after our last breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet we grabbed our luggage and headed to the elevators to go from our Deck 12 to Deck 7. Only problem is that the other 2,600 passengers were probably trying to use them as well. Luke & I decided to walk down the stairs but by the time I got to the Deck 7 I had regretted this as I was carrying a backpack full of cameras and heavy stuff and two large suitcases by hand.

We did not even get to the Explorer’s Lounge as they told us we could just leave so of we went. As got off the Ship there was a massive queue for Customs & Immigration, but just as joined the back of the line a lady said that all non US passengers had to use a separate line (there must have been 300 people in the line). Guess what ? We jumped all the way past the queue straight to Customs and after doing the fingerprint thingy and handing in our customs declaration forms we were done.

No more waiting and out to the taxi rank and in the cab by 8.30AM. Now that’s what I call an efficient disembarkation process.

We had a very talkative Taxi driver which Elise would later comment was annoying and we had arrived back at the Camelot Inn & Suites in Anaheim by about 9.15AM. This time our route was not on the freeways at all but through Long Beach downtown and we got to se some different parts of the city.

Our room was not ready which was no real surprise given check in is 4PM. We left our luggage and headed down the road where Luke wanted to head into IHOP for a late breakfast. He had a burger and Elise had some chocolate cake. Kerry & I had the French Vanilla coffee which were in huge mugs.

We then walked to the Anaheim Garden Walk shopping precinct but everything was closed. Even the Ten Pin Bowling did not open until midday. We decided to go to the Hertz Car Rental around the corner and see if we could pick up our car earlier than planned. No problem and we had our Mazda 5 six seater and we were on our way. Elise loved this car and wants me to buy one for home. I think it has something to do with armrests in the rear seats and the reclining seats which are not unlike plane seats. What a bargain as it only cost me $40-00 per day for a 2 day rental.

We then drove to the nearest Wal-Mart where we grabbed a few supplies of bottled water and some more 88c Powerade’s and had a look for the Rand McNally Atlas Bruce was after. After that we headed back to our room and check in.

I then arranged to get the tickets I had been trying to buy for 2 weeks go see the NBA game between LA Clippers and Golden State Warriors. It was my last chance to fid a replacement game as we had bought Luke tickets for XMAS for he game in Atlanta that was cancelled.

Managed to get some good seats and then we decided to go to do some shopping at The Block at Orange. Elise preferred to stay in the room.

Had a quick McDonalds fix for lunch and we were on our way. It’s only about 10 minutes from here. This place as good and I bought some Nike T-Shirts (some were as cheap as $5- !). Then we went to Levis’s where I bought two pairs as my existing Jeans require a compulsory belt to be worn so they don’t fall down. I decided that the 10cm around my waist in the 10 weeks before we left home is not coming back ! Kerry also bought a pair and Luke got some skinny jeans and the 4 pairs combined cost $147-.

Back to the room and before long Luke & I were on our way to Downtown to catch the game. I had to go to a Hotel to pick up the tickets, and I was bit concerned about the traffic even though it was a Saturday. We headed up the I5 Nth, and we did encounter some pretty bad traffic, and we arrived at the Hotel around 6.15PM which was ideal as the game started at 7.30PM. The Hotel had Valet parking for $20- which I used as it was right across the street from the Staples Centre.

Grabbed our tickets and they were good ones. Luke went to the LA store inside to buy a LA Lakers foam finger he had been looking for, and the we bought some pizza’s and headed to our seats which were located right in line with one of the baskets and only 12 rows from the court. It was great to see this famous place adorned by the various championship flags that the Lakers had won and some retired jerseys hanging on the wall

The warmups started and soon enough Blake Griffin was starting some dunks. The game got underway and the Clippers got away to a good lead and maintained this. Griffin who is a rookie and grabbing a lot of headlines was dominating as he we was heading for a 40 point game.

Early in the second quarter the Clippers had a fast break towards our end and we saw a reverse dunk from Griffin which was unbelievable.

Check out the youtube link below :-

http://bayarea.sbnation.com/golden-state-warriors/2011/1/22/1951110/blake-griffin-reverse-alley-oop-dunk-versus-golden-state-warriors

Whilst the Clippers were in control Perry went on a hot streak and the Warriors had bot back to level pegging with 2 minutes to play. The atmosphere was great and Griffin nailed a 3 pointer that nearly lifted the roof off this place.

That would prove the difference as the Clippers won 113-109 and he just missed out on a triple double as I think he scored 30 points, 18 rebounds with 8 assists. He is going to be a superstar.

Drive back home was quick and only took 30 minutes.
on Land

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