Advertisement
Published: April 21st 2014
After some pretty scary looks and intimidating questions at American immigration (having traveled though south and Central America suggested we could potentially be international drug smugglers apparently) we were in the U S of A, Los Angeles to be exact.
Our first stop was to see Craig's pal James and his wife Elaine who live in Anaheim. If you didn't know, Anaheim is also where Mickey Mouse and his friends also live and we were heading there for a day courtesy of James free guest passes (thanks again James) so coming into Anaheim was exciting on two levels, one to see Craig's friends and also to get swept up in Disney fever as this is the stop to where you then go on to the magical kingdom. As you can imagine it was very very exciting.
I had booked us the right hotel but in the wrong city (bad traveller) so we stayed at the holiday inn which was just down the road from Mickey's place. First night and we found a Bubba Gump shrimp restaurant which was mind blowing -especially for two gringos who had lived on local, and at times somewhat plain food for 5 months -we
gorged to say the least whilst looking at memorabilia from the film Forest Gump. That night we ate lots of u guessed it...shrimp,Cajun shrimp,battered shrimp,spicy shrimp,BBQ shrimp and coconut battered shrimp.
Next morning we were picked up by James and Elaine and taken to our first American breakfast dining experience, made all the better by the free Bloody Mary which accompanied my gigantic plate of eggs Benedict. It was so taste-tastic my insides did not know what was going on -need to take it easy on the rich food. That afternoon we took a drive down the coast to Laguna beach. I was over the moon to go having watched back to back to back episodes on MTV of Lauren Conrad bicker on with Kristen for all of my Sundays when living In Chapel Allerton. It lived up to expectations and we walked along the beach watching the sunset and also watching a little girl who must have been some toddler prom queen having a photo shoot which she was not enjoying,wearing lots of makeup and looking older beyond here years.welcome to la la land.
It was early to bed as the next day we had a date
at Mickeys magical kingdom. Now I can't remember the last time l woke up and sprung out of bed, bounced off the walls, and got ready in record time. I....was.....so....EXCITED!!!!!!!!!! Adrenaline kicking in l barged next doors kids out the way who were also trying to get down the flight of stairs which led to the bus stop, to be first in line to make sure I got there early. This of course was all done whilst Craig was still stirring in bed. No quiet time for Craig today. We met Elaine and James at the monorail gate and were treated like VIPs, we jumped on the monorail and the magic began. At this point Craig read me the rules of the park-no chewing gum..done,no food or drinks on the rides....done, then he highlighted the one he thought was most important -no stampeding (I couldn't promise anything but I would do my best).
The day went very fast and we covered as much as we could. The only major decision for me for the day was deciding which Disney hat to wear- after lots of hat changes and Craig giving me the look telling me to hurry up and
decide I picked a traditional Mickey Mouse ears whilst Craig has R2 D2 Mickey ears. James fixed us up with some badges saying it was my birthday and our first visit which meant we had a weird power as every Disney worker is contracted to say 'happy birthday' to me and ask how our first trip is going. James told us if they do not and are found out they will have red mark on their record-three red marks and you are fired. Sounds very hitleresque. We particularly enjoyed the Indiana Jones ride,haunted mansion, tea cups, terror of tower (which really is terrorizing, I couldn't wait to get off), and finally, the cars ride. It was great as the whole park was all dressed for Christmas and was all themed. We also got to see the amazing Disney fireworks and also the water of colour water show which was spectacular. It was also not very busy so queue times were really short meaning we could go on some rides a couple of time. We arrived at 10 and left at 11, long old day but amazing!
No rest for the wicked and the next day we were on the
plane heading to Las Vegas baby !!!! Debauchery ahoy! This week was turning out to be amazing,what a fab way to spend my birthday !
The flight was short and the air steward was surprised when we turned down an alcohol drink for a coffee-are we actually getting old and being sensible not having a drink at 10am when we have things to do -oh no! I was quite positive this would be remedied over the course of the next four days, a drink could wait. We checked into the golden nugget which is on Fremont street and features it's very own waterside which goes through a shark tank! Amazing! It also has the largest golden nugget found in the whole of the world on display. We don't need some Vegas strip hotel -Fremont is where it is at. We had some time to kill and a birthday outfit to buy so we got to it before our special guest arrived. After walking around lots of lovely American clothes shops it was old reliable which provided the birthday wear, thank goodness for Topshop. One task of the day completed and now it was time to drink and wait for
the James Micheal Adams experience to begin. James is our friend from England and he was to spend one week with us both in Las Vegas and San fransico.
Day one Vegas - Food,drinking and fun which involved my birthday and going to see the amazing cirque Du solei mystere show (thanks mum and dad). Today I also lived the dream by walking around the golden nugget hotel in my robe and slippers whilst drinking a cocktail! This was obviously after being in the pool and going down the water slide which goes through a shark tank! Love Vegas!
Day two Vegas - Food (a fazenda type meal), drinking and fun which involved hooters casino for lunch, and drunken fun in treasure island,followed by checking out the 'fruit loop' district and the hard rock hotel.
Day three Vegas -Food, drinking and fun which included going to circus circus and it's adventure land to ride the roller coasters (James turned green on one said ride) the the 4d sponge on square pants ride and other gravity defying rides including one where I was very close to seeing my 10dollar all you can eat buffet breakfast again.
Around
the afternoon of this day we realised that we were supposed to be on a flight to San Francisco! Oops! Fortunately luck was on our side and we managed to reschedule for the next day free of charge-phew
Evening- Well....we had a bonus night so out we went again!
Day four return from Vegas to San Fransicso as three very broken warriors.
It's all too much to elaborate on any further and we all know... What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.256s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 14; qc: 60; dbt: 0.0586s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
Momma Toni
non-member comment
Love the headgear!
I love the headgear especially the darth vader one! the shrimp menu sounds tasty with all the variations especially the coconut mmmm " I love coconut shrimps said in the homer simpson style" I would so love to go to San Fransisco having been to Atlantic City i am well aware of the potential to succumb to temptation in Vegas! lots of love xxxxxxx