OC - part 2 (Thursday 30 August)

Got woken up by a wake-up call from the hotel, not sure why as I didn't request one.  Got up at 8am & got ready for a day out & about.  G picked me up about 9.30am and we headed to Newport Beach.  We drove around & looked at some interesting houses and some big houses, and stopped at a little park in between the big houses that overlooks the harbour.

Interesting house in Newport Beach.  The arch over the door is completely mosiac.

View from small park overlooking Newport Harbour.

Another view of Newport Harbour.

Closer view of some of the houses at Newport Harbour.

The hazy bit at the top is the ocean.

Huge house at Newport Harbour.

We then went into Newport town and went to Ruby's Diner where we had beignets. I had a Black Forest milkshake & the Really Big Breakfast (3 eggs (sunny side up), bacon, sausage, ham, fried potatoes & buttered toast.

My Black Forest milkshake from Rubys Diner in Newport. Had actual chunks of cherries in it.

My Really Big Breakfast.

Cool car that went around on a loop in the diner.

Another shot of the cool car, and managed to get one of the waiters in as well.

Me with our waitress at Rubys Diner.

After that we went to Roger's Gardens and saw their Halloween display.  I don't know of anywhere back home that does a display like this - it was amazing!

Pumpkin anyone??

Close up of some of the pumpkins.

More pumpkins.

And more pumpkins.

Some of the Halloween items on display & for sale.

More Halloween stuff.

And more Halloween stuff.

And even more Halloween stuff.

My friend wearing one of the many hats available.

If you're not into Halloween they have Harvest stuff.

Is it Christmas already??

Just a tiny portion of the Christmas stuff available - there were 3 rooms full!!

And you have a choice of Santa's.

Then it was off to a richer part of Newport Beach & some huge houses.  We stopped at Lookout Point which is above the beach & looks out onto the Pacific Ocean.

A HUGE house in Newport Beach - not finished yet.

Lookout Point which looks out over the Pacific Ocean.

Looking down onto Corona Del Mar, Newport Beach from Lookout Point.

Looking up the harbour from Lookout Point.

Houses across the road from Lookout Point.  Thought of Mum when I saw this - big new house in the middle of 2 small old houses.  Could just imagine Mum in the small white house on the right. :-)

From there we drove to Balboa Island & had a bit of a walk around & drive around and then we took the car ferry over to Balboa Peninsula and drove around there, went onto Lido Island & drove around oohing & ahhing at the houses there.

Ulrich the rebel sitting on the rail on the car ferry.

Next it was back to Newport Beach & a place known as Fashion Island where we had an early dinner at PF Changs, walked around the shops, rested beside the koi pond, bought some macarons.

One of the entries to Fashion Island.  It's like a HUGE mall but all outside. 

PF Changs on Fashion Island where we had an early dinner.

Koi pond amongst the shops on Fashion Island.

 We then went to a bakery & bought a couple of treats - not for us tho.

Look at all those yummy treats!!

And more yummy treats!!

The bakery where the above yummy treats were - and yes, it is a bakery that makes treats for dogs.  

It was then time to head back to Fullerton & the hotel for a jacuzzi.  Which again I was a tad heavy handed with the bubble bath, should read the directions on the bottle I suppose.  LOL

OC - part 1 (Tuesday 28 & Wednesday 29 August)

Tuesday 28 August - G picked me up at about 9am and we headed out for a day of shopping & sorting stuff out.  First we headed over to a laundromat so I could do some much needed washing (only had 1 pair of knickers left & the ones I bought from Walmart the day before were too big!!).

Ulrich standing guard over my washing at the laundromat.

After finishing our washing we headed off to a place called the Burlington Coat Factory, which started out selling just coats but now sells oh so much more.  It is kind of like The Warehouse, but much much bigger, and sells mainly clothes & shoes.  After spending an hour or so browsing and buying a couple of skirts & a backpack we headed out of the shop and went to El Pollo Loco for lunch where I had a BBQ Chicken Quesadilla.  It was very tasty & just a tad bit spicy.  We then carried on our shopping at the 99c Store, which is much like our dollar stores except that everything is 99c or less even.  Found some very interesting and very well known items there too.

As much as he wanted it I refused to buy the Kool Aid for Ulrich.  LOL

After that we headed to a shop G often visits which has lots of organic products and also has food from overseas.  G had mentioned a few days ago that this place had vegemite & asked me what it was, and as it's kind of hard to explain I had to buy a jar so she could taste it for herself.

After that we headed to Best Buy and I spoiled myself by buying a new camera.  The 3x zoom on my little Fujifim camera was starting to frustrate me so I wanted one with a better zoom function.  I was restricted in choice as I wanted one that took AA batteries so I didn't have to worry about charging a special battery or having a spare charged battery so I went with this one - the Nikon Coolpix L810 which has a 26x optical zoom and a 50x digital zoom.  Is a bit larger than my old camera but that's ok coz I bought me a bigger handbag earlier.

New toy for my trip.  :-)

After that we went back to Walmart & got a refund for the too big knickers then headed into the store to get some correct size knickers.  After that we headed back to the hotel where G tried some vegemite on a bit of bread & then had a vegemite, mayo & cheese sandwich and I had a vegemite & cheese sandwich followed by a much looked forward to soak in the jacuzzi.

Me in the jacuzzi.  Was a tad heavy-handed with the bubble bath.

Ulrich joined us for a much needed wash.  And we found out he doesn't float.

After an hour or so in the jacuzzi and much talking, G went home & I got the tablet out with the intention of sorting photos & uploading my blog, but got distracted by other things, had a play with my new camera and then had to read the short instruction manual that came with it.  The full instruction manual is on a cd that came in the box, how I read that cd on my tablet I have yet to work out.  LOL  I then decided to watch a bit of tv & turned it on to see the news about the weather in new Orleans, watched that for a bit until they said that it had passed & hadn't done too much damage, then flicked thru the channels (again over 200) before going to sleep.

Wednesday 29 August - Got up & sorted out my clothes.  Looked online at catching the bus or train from Las Vegas to Chicago (didn't want to fly coz of the baggage weight restrictions), found a couple of good options and then checked the baggage information & found out that they have baggage weight restrictions on the buses & trains.  With that being the case I decided I may as well fly so now I have to check out & book a flight.  G arrived about 11am and we mucked around a bit then headed off to the Olive Garden for lunch, they have an Endless Pasta Bowl menu option running at the moment where they have 6 different pastas & 5 different sauces for you to mix & match and they bring you whatever combinations you want for as much as you can eat.  We then headed to a salon G goes to now & then so I could get a pedicure, decided on the Deluxe Pedicure (soak, cuticle treatment, exfoliation, mask, hot towel, callous treatment & massage) and oh my it was good!!!  Got a quick manicure too as we were heading to a movie.  By the time I had finished we had missed the movie start time so we decided to visit some more shops.  The shopping here is amazing, they have so many different types of shops offering so many different things!  After a few hours shopping G drove me around Fullerton a bit and then we headed to Sonic Drive-in for dinner.  It's a real drive-in like they had in Happy Days!!  I had my first hot dog (american hot dog to us) from here and I have to say it was quite good.  G then dropped me back at my hotel and I spent a few hours sorting photos and updating my blog.  Am going to have to start to make notes on my phone during the day as I am having trouble remembering everything.

Sonic Drive In - a REAL Drive In like they had in the old days!

Vehicles parked at Sonic. A bit more advanced technologically than the old days.

The blur in this photo is the waitress on roller skates.

When she delivered our food she agreed to pose for a photo for me.

My first hot dog (american hot dog to us).  Has fried onions, cheese, relish & ketchup on it.

Now it is nearly 1am so I am off to bed as I am being picked up at 8.45am tomorrow morning for a trip into Newport Beach & other places.  I tells ya - busy busy busy.  :-)

LA to Orange County (Monday 27 August)

Got up earlyish (8am) so that I had enough time to get myself showered, dressed & sorted before my friend came to pick me up.  Arrived at the hotel with 3 bags mostly full, left with 4 bags completely full.  Don't know how I am going to get around with just 1 big bag & 1 carry-on bag, will definitely have to look into getting stuff shipped back home, also coz the train & bus services here have a baggage weight limit.  No fair!!  LOL

Anyhoo, G picked me up about 11am & we headed off to see a few sights.  Went to & had a walk around the Chateau Marmont, an extremely posh hotel in Hollywood.  Drove around Hollywood Hills, oohed & aahed at the big houses and lovely views.

View from between a couple of houses in the Hollywood Hills.

Some of the houses in the Hollywood Hills.  That huge building in the middle of the photo is just one house!!

Looking out over Hollywood from the Hollywood Hills.  The tall buildings in the distance are Central LA.

View from the Hollywood Hills.  Think the road is Sunset Boulevard.

Close up of Central LA from the Hollywood Hills.

Side of the road in the Hollywood Hills.  Very steep drop & no barrier!!  And this is one of the 'rich' areas in LA.  I will never complain about the state of our roads back home again.

Drove around Bel Air & then into Malibu for a looksie.

The famous Beverley Hills Hotel.  No, I didn't stay here, we just drove up the driveway & out again. 

View of Malibu Beach from the car.  

After that we headed to Orange County, which apparently is not part of Los Angeles, I learn something new everyday, which is where G lives and spent a while looking for a donut place.  Finally found it - Randy's Donuts - bought a couple of donuts and I have to say that they were worth the hassle. 

Damn good donuts!!!

Then we went to The Queen Mary, a cruise ship docked at Long Beach - http://www.queenmary.com - and had lunch at one of the restaurants on board.  Then had a walk around the ship & saw some of the original furniture & fittings, was very interesting.

Ulrich looking at the view while we had lunch on The Queen Mary.

Closer shot of the view.

The Queen Mary.

It took us about 2hrs to get back to Fullerton (the 'suburb' in Orange County where I am staying) so we went to the hotel so I could check-in and drop off my luggage.  When I arrived the guy at the front desk asked if I wanted to upgrade from a standard 2 queen bed room to a 1 king bed room with jacuzzi at no extra cost, to which I said "Yes, please".

Bathroom of my upgraded hotel room.

View from just past the bathroom.

View from standing in front of the jacuzzi.

View from the lounge area of the room.

Me in the jacuzzi (empty of course) in my room.

After dropping off my bags & oohing at the room we headed to In'n'Out Burger for dinner.  I forgot to get a photo of their menu, but if we go back I will because many won't believe what they offer - just 3 burgers (hamburger, cheeseburger & double double burger (a double cheeseburger), fries & drinks, that's it, no chicken, no salads, no nuggets, and it was really busy.  

My meal - cheeseburger & fries, animal style.  They don't advertise 'animal style' but if you know about it you can ask for it and it's fried onions, melted cheese & pickle sauce (similar to McD's Big Mac sauce) added to your burger & fries.

After filling up on a burger & fries we went to Walmart to pick up a few supplies and then it was back to my hotel and bed.