Saturday 7th January 2006 (San Diego)

• Big sleep again last night but woke before the alarm with a really sore shoulder.
• Had a room service omelette for breakfast.  Yum.  Adie was boring and had cereal and toast.
• Took the shuttle to the zoo.  The bus driver told us all about his trip to Sydney.  We told him to go to Melbourne.

• Zoo was stunning.  They have so much land and so many animals.  We were there for six hours and we still didn't see it all.
• They have a fantastic kids area that gives heaps of information that's easy to understand.
• Took the bus tour.
• Took Skyfari down.  It gives an amazing view of the park.
• Saw two really good live animal shows, including one where we were lucky enough to hear a wolf's howl.  Awesome.
• Tired at the end of a long day of walking.
• Went to the Gaslamp District for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe while our photos were put onto CD.

Friday 6th January 2006 (Hollywood & the drive to San Diego)

• We woke early today so we could check out and then do our tour.  We were picked up from our hotel, which was ridiculous as we were then driven two blocks down the street to start the tour.  We would have been happy to walk.
• Hollywood Trolley Tour
• A general tour of the Hollywood sights.
• The guide was really good and reminded me of Bevis.
• Saw the Hollywood Bowl, which is a natural amphitheatre and is open to the public so we were able to walk around inside it to have a closer look.
• Only four of us on the tour so we could ask lots of questions, and take lots of photos.
• Got a good view of the Hollywood sign, as well as some history about it.
• Saw a whole lot of different studios, including Paramount, and many theatres.
• The thing about Hollywood, and the tour guide acknowledged this, is that it's really disappointing.  I'm sure that in its heyday it was amazing, but now it's almost sleazy.
• Once this tour ended we went straight to the next tour, which was of the stars homes.
• We saw some celebrity homes.
• We drove around for over an our looking at beautiful but ridiculously huge homes that really could've belonged to anyone who was filthy rich.
• Our bus driver was a slightly nutty Asian lady who kept saying "No big deal" and "Do you get it?"  She would also occasionally shout rather excitedly "Look now! Look now!"  She was really boring and gave me a headache after awhile.
• Apart from the houses, we also drove past sights like the The Viper Room and we went down Rodeo Drive.
• By the end of it, Adie and I were pretty much falling asleep.  Oh well, it can't all be fantastic.
• All over Hollywood Blvd there are people dressed in costume who want you to pay them to have your photo taken with them.  The funniest was Superman.  He had the biggest bulge in his pants and when I first noticed him, I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
• From this tour we drove to San Diego.
• On the drive to San Diego, I kept falling asleep.  I'm not sure why, but I suspect it's a side effect from the tour of the stars home.  By the time I was awake we had coastline to our right and it was beautiful.

• We gt to San Diego and Adie decided that the hotel was near the zoo.  Of course there was no hotel there.  So we just drove towards downtown and just used logic to find our way.  This method actually worked pretty well and we're now in our hotel.
• Holiday Inn is actually the first hotel to make a big deal of the travel agent having put that we're honeymooners on our documents.  They have upgraded our room so that we're on the top floor with a large room and a great view.  They also sent up a bottle of complementary Californian Cab Sav.  It's really nice.  We can't complain about the Holiday Inn, they're always nice and good value.
• Did our second load of washing here in the hotel and ordered our first lot of room service since we've been travelling.  It's been too expensive everywhere else, but here (even with gratuity) it's really affordable.
• Tomorrow we go to the San Diego Zoo.  For now it's  just nice to have some down time.

Thursday 5th January 2006 (Universal Studios)

• Slept almost 12 hours.  We must have been tired!  I dreamt about the Golden Girls, not quite sure what that's about.
• Ate breakfast at McDonald's.  Had the Sausage McGriddle... how was I supposed to know that McGriddle cakes have maple syrup in them.  Had to pull it apart and ate the different parts.
• Caught the metro and then the free shuttle to Universal Studios. 

• Here's what we did:
• Shrek 4D
• Despite having to wait around for it all to begin, it was fantastic!
• 4D effects were amazing.  The extras (water, air) worked really well and the story itself was all you want from a Shrek show.
• Studio Tour
• This was really interesting, seeing the stages where shows are made.
• Saw Wisteria Lane, which was also the set for shows like Leave it to Beaver and The Burbs.

• We got in the middle of a subway disaster, King King wrecking a street, Jaws attacking the trolley car and we drove through the destruction that was created for War of the Worlds (included a real aeroplane).
• Animal Planet
• This was really cute.  They had trained cats, rats, a raccoon, monkeys, birds and dogs performing.  I loved it!
• Water World
• The sets and stunts were really good. 
• There were lots of crashes, splashes and fire.  They even crash landed a sea plane.

• They kept telling people in one particular section that they would get wet.  "Yeah, yeah" they said, but they did get wet.  There was a part at the beginning where actors were literally throwing buckets of water at them.  Some people were totally drenched.
• Jurassic Park

• We started out feeling nervous about this ride because we didn't know what to expect, except that we'd get wet.  As we inched forward in the line, we started to feel brave.  Once on the ride we were quite calm, and getting wetter by the minute, but then we got to the drop at the end... whoa, that was a long way down and steep!  It was good though.
• The photo that automatically gets taken shows Adie holding on for dear life and me with my eyes glued shut.
• Special Effects Stages
• We just kind of accidentally ended up at this one, and Adie became a star!

• He put his hand up to volunteer and ended up doing all sorts of fun stuff on the stage to show the special effects in front of all the audience

• He did really well and I was very proud.
• That was pretty much everything.  We were tired and thirsty and really wanted to get back to the hotel towards the end of the day.
• We tried to contact Jackie and Mikie at their hotel, but it looks like they haven;t quite made it yet.  We might call them from San Diego to see if they want to come with us to the zoo.

Wednesday 4th January 2005 (Los Angeles)

• We're thankful to be staying in nice, more expensive hotels.
• Breakfast at the vagabond consisted of sugary donuts and bad coffee.  The jam donut was too sweet for Adie to finish and I was glad that I'd bought a yoghurt yesterday.
• Easy drive to Hollywood through some pretty mountains.
• Arrived at Roosevelt Hotel early and the room wasn't ready so we walked up and down Hollywood Blvd.  This place is really set up for tourists as there is nothing here that's not geared towards tourism.  This doesn't make it a better place but instead it's really cheesy and not all that exciting.

• Went to the Guinness Records and Wax Museum.  Both were quite pathetic.  There was a whole lot of things at the Guinness Exhibit that either didn't work or cost extra money and most of the models in the wax museum were simply terrible.


• As we went past the Chinese Theatre there was a big crowd building as Queen Latifah was getting a star.  We didn't care and so we went to check into our room.

• Room is really nice.  It's modern colours and style that I really like.
• Foyers are old style Hollywood.  Lush and beautiful.

• Went to El Capitan, a huge theatre run by Disney, to see 'The Chronicles of Narnia'.  There were two levels to the theatre and it was totally decked out for the movie with lighting,a huge Aslan head and set pieces from the film on either side of the screen.

• There was a guy playing the Wurlitzer organ before the movie as well as a sprinkling of fake snow!
• The film itself was really good.  Not really a kids film though.  Tilda Swinton was excellent.
• Had dinner at an Italian restaurant called 'Bella' on Hollywood Blvd.  It was nice to eat a bowl of pasta instead of another burger.
• The Chinese Theatre has the premier of 'Bloodrayne' tonight.  There were blockades all over the road and press everywhere.  It looks like the after party is in our hotel because there's a room set up downstairs with big posters out the front for the film.
• The drive to Hollywood around Hollywood saw us go 4000 feet up into the hills.



Tuesday 3rd January 2006 (Yosemite and on the road again)

• Saw no bears last night
• Woke early to a clear day
• Went into Yosemite National Park where we saw:
• Waterfalls

• Fir trees

• Snow-capped mountains

• Iced over ponds and rivers

• El Capitano
• Drove to Fresno where we had lunch at Denny's (a chain diner)/Food was cheap and decent but I've had better
• As we drove we watched the mountains in the horizon

• Lots of grape vines along the way and what we think might be walnut or pistachio trees
• Found a terrible hotel in Bakersfield where we'll stay overnight
• There are literally hundreds of motels on the 99 into Los Angeles and we chose this one because it's cheap (maybe that's why the Internet doesn't work and the room smells like cigarettes)
• Tomorrow we get a free breakfast of coffee, tea, donuts and waffles.  Yum?
• Went to Vons, a local supermarket, to get some food/A lady behind us let us use her Vons card which saved us $10.00 which was very cool
• We were really lucky with the weather today.  Yesterday was pissing with rain but this morning was clear and crisp in Yosemite and weather is just getting warmer and warmer as we get closer to Los Angeles

Monday 2nd January 2006 (On the road to Yosemite)

• Left San Francisco by car

• Got a little lost because we hadn't considered that the freeways would be separated into east, west, north and south/worked it out eventually
• Rained steadily as we drove to Yosemite

• Some roads were flooded by we could still drive through/lots of fields that were totally underwater

• Ate lunch at Taco Bell/Drinks were ridiculously huge, although not the biggest we've seen, and the tacos were really quite good
• Pouring rain in Yosemite but the scenery is gorgeous.  Lots of rivers are full and running very fast and we saw hundreds of waterfalls


• Our hotel backs right onto the river so when we walk out the back door we're on a balcony over the river
• They've told us that they'll call our room tonight if a bear turns up because there was one here yesterday


• Room has a spa bath and is self-contained, so Adie had a spa and we're cooking pasta for dinner (our first home-cooked meal in over a week)
• Driving here was a bit odd because all of our instincts were telling us to do the opposite of what we're used to, it even felt odd to be sitting in the passenger seat.  Adie did a great job, especially considering the rain

Sunday 1st January 2006 (San Francisco)

• New Years Day
• Photos of hotel from Union Square

• Free sample of See's choc peppermint crisp
• Lovely San Fran coastline

• Breakfast at Max's of a huge but delicious vegetable frittata which came with fried potato and a biscuit (the biscuit was ordinary)/$2.50 bottomless coffee
• Internet cafe #2
• Used laundromat/cost about $4.00 for powder, wash and dry
• Went to Macy's/saw lots of women's clothing and for me it was pretty much boring
• Internet cafe #3
• Interesting street art

• Both of us suffering a little bit with head cold symptoms that are probably due to going from warm buildings into cold reality