The Great West Coast Road Trip: USA 2012
Years ago, long before her boyfriend proposed, Jo Elaine, my best friend from second grade, said to me, "Pag kinasal ako, pupunta kang States." To which I replied, "Basta hindi ako buntis. Or nagbe-breastfeed." Well I spent most of the last 7 years either pregnant or breastfeeding. I only stopped last year. And that was when she invited me to her wedding, which was this year. I had no excuse not to go. Except that I had procrastinated visa applying so much so that when on April 2, I finally finished gathering requirements, and answering the online application form (and successfully nagged Mike to do the same), the earliest appointment available at the US Embassy was 4 days before the wedding. Uh oh. I told her my predicament (I had to, I was in her wedding party) and said she should have a proxy lined up, just in case we don't get a visa in time, but reassured her that I felt somehow, I knew that an earlier slot would open up and we would be able to come.
After that I checked the US Embassy website everyday, no, several times a day to see if an earlier slot would upen up. And it was frightening, because each day I checked, the slots would move later by a week. After a week of checking, the earliest possible schedule for interview at the Embassy was already in mid-July. Finally, Mike and I decided to just let it go. Send our regrets to Jo Elaine and grab the earliest July schedule and just go to the States when we can. And on the morning I came online to take the July schedule, new slots opened up for May 22. I took it. We got our visas, and here is the trip that almost wasn't, but somehow was.
As with all our trips, I take care of the details of our itinerary, but Mike sets the parameters. He said we will limit our trip to two weeks. We will base ourselves in LA (where we can stay with Tita Ellen). And then we must go to the following places: Las Vegas (because you don't go to LA without going to Las Vegas), San Francisco (Because he's never been there), and Phoenix (Because he wants to visit Tita Espi). AND he wants to drive all over the place. So you can imagine how jam packed our two weeks were. I thought it would be just like the UK trip, wherein practically every hour of every day was accounted for. Somehow, this trip was more busy, even if it seemed like we were technically visiting less places, because we were actually visiting A LOT of people. And people take more time to visit than places. You can go to a place, take a photo, and leave. You can't do that to people. You have to share a meal, reminisce, talk, laugh, be shown around, AND take photos, and then linger before you leave. Plus all the cities we wanted to go to were 6-8 hours away from each other. Each road trip would consume an entire day. So it was crazy exhausting, but hella a lot of fun.
Day 1: We arrived at LAX on June 3, at around 3PM. Escaped the airport at around 5. Tita Ellen was waiting for us there and after bringing us to her house to just drop off our bags, we went and fetched Tita Sonya and Monette and had dinner at a Korean BBQ place, where you have to cook your food at the table. I forgot to take photos because even if it was early evening, my body was convinced it was 3AM. After that we hung out for coffee and kwentuhan at Monette's house then went back to Tita Ellen's house and got us some sleep.
Day 2: Tita Ellen dropped us off at Universal Studios where we did the tour where we saw Wisteria Lane, Jaws, King Kong, the crash site from War of the Worlds, all sorts of fake streets and buildings they repaint to make look like whatever each new movie or TV show needs. Then we took as many rides as my bad stomach could, err, stomach. Terminator and Transformers were quite memorable. I wish I weren't ill, cause I really wanted to do the Jurassic Park ride But I was at my limit. Too too sick. Anyway at around 5 Tita Ellen fetched us, we had dinner together at a mall, and we went home.
Day 3: No photos again, as we spent this whole entire day driving to Arizona. Well, actually, we woke up late and left late, and stopped frequently, and our GPS took us on a long cut. We arrived at Tita Espi's house a bit late for dinner, but we all ate together, and stayed up till 3 just telling stories and laughing.
Day 4: Tita Espi and Isa took us around Phoenix and Scottsdale. This photo is in front of their very old Basilica, which looks really new. We walked around their malls, drove around their colleges and sports stadiums, then we shopped in Old Town Scottsdale and I regretted not buying a hat.
After our half day driving tour, we returned to Tempe, loaded up and set off for Las Vegas. We got there at around 10:30PM, checked in and slept.
Day 5: Had to wake up bright and early because at 5AM we were fetched and brought to the airport for our plane tour of the Grand Canyon. It was very exciting and worth waking up at 4AM for. A small plane flew us to the Grand Canyon, landed, we took a short bus tour to Eagle Point where we saw the Skywalk (from The Lost Hero) but opted not to walk on it. Took the bus to Guano Point, hiked around, had a hearty meal and then back on the plane we flew over Hoover Dam and then back to Vegas in time for lunch.
We were still full from our meal at the Grand Canyon that we just lay down and took a nap. At around 3PM we got up. It would be a complete waste to stay in bed on our only full day in Las Vegas. We ate briefly at our hotel and then got into our car and drove to the Strip. We drove up and down it, taking photos of all the famous hotels and landmarks. We went to the World's Largest Souvenir Store and bought some cheap pasalubong. Hehe. And after we'd killed enough time, we headed to the Mirage to pick up our pre-paid tickets to LOVE, Cirque du Soleil to the music of the Beatles. I've been wanting to see this show ever since I heard it existed! And it was truly beautiful.
Before watching LOVE, we walked around the Venetian (did not ride a gondola this time as we did that in Macau) and bought some shoes (Rockports were at over 40% off!). And then we wend back to the Mirage and loved LOVE! Then we weren't sleepy yet so we drove up and down The Strip again to see all the neon lights and how magical Las Vegas is at night. CSI hardly does it justice. AND THEN, we went to the Fremont Street Experience, which is a 5 minute walk from our little hotel. It's a street with a giant LED display for a roof! Lined with casinos and souvenir stores, and there were at least two live bands playing 80s Rock music all night. Ang saya! We liked that it was much less crowded than the Strip.
Day 6 had no photos. It was all about getting up late and driving back to LA, but stopping at 2 outlet stores along the way. Na-feel ko talaga yung outlet store virginity ko. Those giant discount malls could be the death of me. I have no idea how to tackle them efficiently.
Day 7 was the main event that brought us to the States. JoEl's wedding! Not a lot of photos either, as I left my main camera in the car. I grabbed this from her site though. It was nice to see her so happy, and to reconnect with Theresa. Even if Pacquiao "lost" it was truly a happy day.
Day 8 we met up with Jo, Jojo and Jamie at the Cheesecake Factory at the Grove. A place I've seen so many times on TMZ only to find in real life that it's nice and kinda sossy. I liked it. I wanted to ride the tram! After brunch, we went to Hollywood Blvd. This photo was our view of the Hollywood sign. Up there on the hills. It's there! Trust me. We walked up and down Hollywood Blvd, saw the stars on the walk of fame, the Chinese Theater, all the impersonators you have to pay to have your picture taken with. And then someone handed us a coupon that let us watch Iris, the LA Cirque du Soleil for just $50 each! So we did and it is my favorite Cirque of all the 4 I've seen so far. Yes, more than LOVE. It was awesomesauce.
Day 9 we set off to the North on Highway 1. we were sort of just winging it, putting most of our trust in our outdated GPS and guts so I think we went the wrong way in some places. Anyway when finally we reached the long stretch known as the Big Sur, we couldn't see anything for miles and miles because of a dense fog. And then, out of nowhere, it cleared! And we were able to stop a few times to take photos. We reached Carmel at around 7:30 so we stopped to have dinner. Then we reached Tita Putchy's house in Sta Cruz at around 9PM.
Tita Putchy and Uncle Bob are old and dear friends of my grandparents, Nana and Nanu. They have a charming little house on top of a hill in the forests of Santa Cruz. We stayed there overnight, and were treated life family. It was really very nice. And cold. Grabe. But nice.
Day 10 we had waffles for breakfast then took a short tour around their house and admired the views then we loaded up again and drove back down to Monterey where we spent most of our time at the Monterey Aquarium. I love aquariums! All those fish without having to put on a dive suit. It's not the biggest aquarium I've been to but it's definitely the prettiest. We also walked around Cannery Row and had an excellent sole lunch at the Fish Hopper. And then it was time to drive up to Tina's place in Sunnyvale.
Day 11, Ino, Mike and I got up late and missed the fast train to San Francisco. We made it there in the afternoon, walked around Fisherman's Wharf and found a $15 boat ride that took us under the Golden Gate Bridge and then around Alcatraz. All the while the boatmen were telling us all sorts of trivia. It was well worth our money and saved us a trip to the park. I loved getting to see the Golden Gate Bridge up close and from beneath. After that we had sundaes at Ghirardelli Square and I wish I had bought some of their crazy expensive chocolates.
Then we walked hiked (Ino jogged. Ugh.) to the top of Lombard St., the famously most zigzaggy street in the world, seen in many movies. From the top we walked all the way down, enjoying the view of the Coit Tower in the distance and joined the group of tourists at the bottom, who were looking up and taking photos of it. Then we took a bus back to the Caltrain Station and managed to take a fast train back to Sunnyvale, where we met up with Tina and ate at a great Mediterranean restaurant called Dish Dash.
Day 12, this time Ino chose to stay home (in Tina's flat) and Mike and I drove to San Francisco. We went to the Exploratorium, which is like a giant Science Centrum, full of interactive displays and experiments for kids, and adults alike. Naturally it appealed to the kiddie nerd in me. After that we went round back to the Palace of Fine Arts and took photos of this setting which is also in many movies, usually involving romantic boat rides.
After that we had to attend a wake in Fremont, several miles on the other side of the Bay. The traffic just to get out of San Francisco was awful as in worse than Manila, can you believe? Which means we may never ever return.
The wake was of an uncle of Mike's who had died of cancer the week before. Which is sad, of course, but the service was nice, and we were able to see so many of Mike's relatives whom we would never have gotten the chance to meet if not for the wake. So in a way it was a good thing. Certainly the timing was spot on, as the service happened to fall on the days we had scheduled to be in the Bay Area.
After the wake service, we went to San Jose to meet up with Tina and Ino to eat at an authentic Ethiopian restaurant called Zeni. We all shared one plate and ate with our fingers! It was fun and yummy! :-) Then back to Sunnyvale to complete our circumnavigation of the San Francisco Bay.
Day 13.Most of this day was spent on the road and/or at an outlet store. Ino rode with us, poor thing, he had to endure our hours and hours of shopping at Gilroy, and then he drove most of the way back to LA through the crazy unexpected traffic on the I5. There were so many roadworks. Buti na lang he was there, otherwise ubos na ubos na ang pag-uusapan namin ni Mike sa dami ng road trip namin, tinulugan ko lang na naman siya. With Ino we had a lot of new stuff to talk about.
We reached LA at around 10PM, decided to have dinner near the Staples Center and the only place open was the Yard House, which was actually a bar, but they had good food. Nabusog ako sa appetizer, as usual. Haha!
After dinner, we brought Ino to his house, then went back to Tita Ellen's place in Woodland Hills, and lo and behold, she had just arrived from Fremont with Tito Rey (they attended the funeral that day. Tita Espi and kids had driven in from Phoenix, Tito Gerry came, and there were other cousins and uncles and aunts there, it was a reunion that started at midnight and ended way after I had gone to bed.
Day 14, lunch with JoEl and Joe (forgot to take photos of us four together, drats!) that lasted four hours of kwentuhan. Then last minute shopping and then back to Woodland Hills for more Umali Family getting together till the wee hours.
Day 15, we woke up to a house full of people who had slept over the night before. Breakfast was a noisy family affair. Soon it was time for Tita Ellen to drive us to the airport, we said our goodbyes with promises to see each other again soon (most of them are coming to Manila this month, July, for a big family event) and to stay longer next time we go there.
It was a whirlwind trip, more tiring than I expected, but worth it and extra fun. There were many places I'd always wanted to see and did, certainly I formed a greater appreciation for the United States of America, which till then I had only seen through my favorite TV shows, most of which happen to be crime dramas, so you can imagine what sort of impression I've always held. But the most unique thing about this trip is that we had so many people to visit, and they were all so happy to see us, and they all made our going there extra special. So thanks to all our hosts, who all asked us to stay longer next time (Except Tina, but that's understandable since we see her every year. Haha! Although if I did stay longer, I would have had time to properly organize her pantry. My OCness was kicking in, sayang there was no time.) and to bring our kids next time. Yes we will, and it will be even more fun!
After that I checked the US Embassy website everyday, no, several times a day to see if an earlier slot would upen up. And it was frightening, because each day I checked, the slots would move later by a week. After a week of checking, the earliest possible schedule for interview at the Embassy was already in mid-July. Finally, Mike and I decided to just let it go. Send our regrets to Jo Elaine and grab the earliest July schedule and just go to the States when we can. And on the morning I came online to take the July schedule, new slots opened up for May 22. I took it. We got our visas, and here is the trip that almost wasn't, but somehow was.
As with all our trips, I take care of the details of our itinerary, but Mike sets the parameters. He said we will limit our trip to two weeks. We will base ourselves in LA (where we can stay with Tita Ellen). And then we must go to the following places: Las Vegas (because you don't go to LA without going to Las Vegas), San Francisco (Because he's never been there), and Phoenix (Because he wants to visit Tita Espi). AND he wants to drive all over the place. So you can imagine how jam packed our two weeks were. I thought it would be just like the UK trip, wherein practically every hour of every day was accounted for. Somehow, this trip was more busy, even if it seemed like we were technically visiting less places, because we were actually visiting A LOT of people. And people take more time to visit than places. You can go to a place, take a photo, and leave. You can't do that to people. You have to share a meal, reminisce, talk, laugh, be shown around, AND take photos, and then linger before you leave. Plus all the cities we wanted to go to were 6-8 hours away from each other. Each road trip would consume an entire day. So it was crazy exhausting, but hella a lot of fun.
Day 1: We arrived at LAX on June 3, at around 3PM. Escaped the airport at around 5. Tita Ellen was waiting for us there and after bringing us to her house to just drop off our bags, we went and fetched Tita Sonya and Monette and had dinner at a Korean BBQ place, where you have to cook your food at the table. I forgot to take photos because even if it was early evening, my body was convinced it was 3AM. After that we hung out for coffee and kwentuhan at Monette's house then went back to Tita Ellen's house and got us some sleep.
Day 2: Tita Ellen dropped us off at Universal Studios where we did the tour where we saw Wisteria Lane, Jaws, King Kong, the crash site from War of the Worlds, all sorts of fake streets and buildings they repaint to make look like whatever each new movie or TV show needs. Then we took as many rides as my bad stomach could, err, stomach. Terminator and Transformers were quite memorable. I wish I weren't ill, cause I really wanted to do the Jurassic Park ride But I was at my limit. Too too sick. Anyway at around 5 Tita Ellen fetched us, we had dinner together at a mall, and we went home.
Day 3: No photos again, as we spent this whole entire day driving to Arizona. Well, actually, we woke up late and left late, and stopped frequently, and our GPS took us on a long cut. We arrived at Tita Espi's house a bit late for dinner, but we all ate together, and stayed up till 3 just telling stories and laughing.
Day 4: Tita Espi and Isa took us around Phoenix and Scottsdale. This photo is in front of their very old Basilica, which looks really new. We walked around their malls, drove around their colleges and sports stadiums, then we shopped in Old Town Scottsdale and I regretted not buying a hat.
After our half day driving tour, we returned to Tempe, loaded up and set off for Las Vegas. We got there at around 10:30PM, checked in and slept.
Day 5: Had to wake up bright and early because at 5AM we were fetched and brought to the airport for our plane tour of the Grand Canyon. It was very exciting and worth waking up at 4AM for. A small plane flew us to the Grand Canyon, landed, we took a short bus tour to Eagle Point where we saw the Skywalk (from The Lost Hero) but opted not to walk on it. Took the bus to Guano Point, hiked around, had a hearty meal and then back on the plane we flew over Hoover Dam and then back to Vegas in time for lunch.
We were still full from our meal at the Grand Canyon that we just lay down and took a nap. At around 3PM we got up. It would be a complete waste to stay in bed on our only full day in Las Vegas. We ate briefly at our hotel and then got into our car and drove to the Strip. We drove up and down it, taking photos of all the famous hotels and landmarks. We went to the World's Largest Souvenir Store and bought some cheap pasalubong. Hehe. And after we'd killed enough time, we headed to the Mirage to pick up our pre-paid tickets to LOVE, Cirque du Soleil to the music of the Beatles. I've been wanting to see this show ever since I heard it existed! And it was truly beautiful.
Before watching LOVE, we walked around the Venetian (did not ride a gondola this time as we did that in Macau) and bought some shoes (Rockports were at over 40% off!). And then we wend back to the Mirage and loved LOVE! Then we weren't sleepy yet so we drove up and down The Strip again to see all the neon lights and how magical Las Vegas is at night. CSI hardly does it justice. AND THEN, we went to the Fremont Street Experience, which is a 5 minute walk from our little hotel. It's a street with a giant LED display for a roof! Lined with casinos and souvenir stores, and there were at least two live bands playing 80s Rock music all night. Ang saya! We liked that it was much less crowded than the Strip.
Day 6 had no photos. It was all about getting up late and driving back to LA, but stopping at 2 outlet stores along the way. Na-feel ko talaga yung outlet store virginity ko. Those giant discount malls could be the death of me. I have no idea how to tackle them efficiently.
Day 7 was the main event that brought us to the States. JoEl's wedding! Not a lot of photos either, as I left my main camera in the car. I grabbed this from her site though. It was nice to see her so happy, and to reconnect with Theresa. Even if Pacquiao "lost" it was truly a happy day.
Day 8 we met up with Jo, Jojo and Jamie at the Cheesecake Factory at the Grove. A place I've seen so many times on TMZ only to find in real life that it's nice and kinda sossy. I liked it. I wanted to ride the tram! After brunch, we went to Hollywood Blvd. This photo was our view of the Hollywood sign. Up there on the hills. It's there! Trust me. We walked up and down Hollywood Blvd, saw the stars on the walk of fame, the Chinese Theater, all the impersonators you have to pay to have your picture taken with. And then someone handed us a coupon that let us watch Iris, the LA Cirque du Soleil for just $50 each! So we did and it is my favorite Cirque of all the 4 I've seen so far. Yes, more than LOVE. It was awesomesauce.
Day 9 we set off to the North on Highway 1. we were sort of just winging it, putting most of our trust in our outdated GPS and guts so I think we went the wrong way in some places. Anyway when finally we reached the long stretch known as the Big Sur, we couldn't see anything for miles and miles because of a dense fog. And then, out of nowhere, it cleared! And we were able to stop a few times to take photos. We reached Carmel at around 7:30 so we stopped to have dinner. Then we reached Tita Putchy's house in Sta Cruz at around 9PM.
Tita Putchy and Uncle Bob are old and dear friends of my grandparents, Nana and Nanu. They have a charming little house on top of a hill in the forests of Santa Cruz. We stayed there overnight, and were treated life family. It was really very nice. And cold. Grabe. But nice.
Day 10 we had waffles for breakfast then took a short tour around their house and admired the views then we loaded up again and drove back down to Monterey where we spent most of our time at the Monterey Aquarium. I love aquariums! All those fish without having to put on a dive suit. It's not the biggest aquarium I've been to but it's definitely the prettiest. We also walked around Cannery Row and had an excellent sole lunch at the Fish Hopper. And then it was time to drive up to Tina's place in Sunnyvale.
Day 11, Ino, Mike and I got up late and missed the fast train to San Francisco. We made it there in the afternoon, walked around Fisherman's Wharf and found a $15 boat ride that took us under the Golden Gate Bridge and then around Alcatraz. All the while the boatmen were telling us all sorts of trivia. It was well worth our money and saved us a trip to the park. I loved getting to see the Golden Gate Bridge up close and from beneath. After that we had sundaes at Ghirardelli Square and I wish I had bought some of their crazy expensive chocolates.
Then we walked hiked (Ino jogged. Ugh.) to the top of Lombard St., the famously most zigzaggy street in the world, seen in many movies. From the top we walked all the way down, enjoying the view of the Coit Tower in the distance and joined the group of tourists at the bottom, who were looking up and taking photos of it. Then we took a bus back to the Caltrain Station and managed to take a fast train back to Sunnyvale, where we met up with Tina and ate at a great Mediterranean restaurant called Dish Dash.
Day 12, this time Ino chose to stay home (in Tina's flat) and Mike and I drove to San Francisco. We went to the Exploratorium, which is like a giant Science Centrum, full of interactive displays and experiments for kids, and adults alike. Naturally it appealed to the kiddie nerd in me. After that we went round back to the Palace of Fine Arts and took photos of this setting which is also in many movies, usually involving romantic boat rides.
After that we had to attend a wake in Fremont, several miles on the other side of the Bay. The traffic just to get out of San Francisco was awful as in worse than Manila, can you believe? Which means we may never ever return.
The wake was of an uncle of Mike's who had died of cancer the week before. Which is sad, of course, but the service was nice, and we were able to see so many of Mike's relatives whom we would never have gotten the chance to meet if not for the wake. So in a way it was a good thing. Certainly the timing was spot on, as the service happened to fall on the days we had scheduled to be in the Bay Area.
After the wake service, we went to San Jose to meet up with Tina and Ino to eat at an authentic Ethiopian restaurant called Zeni. We all shared one plate and ate with our fingers! It was fun and yummy! :-) Then back to Sunnyvale to complete our circumnavigation of the San Francisco Bay.
Day 13.Most of this day was spent on the road and/or at an outlet store. Ino rode with us, poor thing, he had to endure our hours and hours of shopping at Gilroy, and then he drove most of the way back to LA through the crazy unexpected traffic on the I5. There were so many roadworks. Buti na lang he was there, otherwise ubos na ubos na ang pag-uusapan namin ni Mike sa dami ng road trip namin, tinulugan ko lang na naman siya. With Ino we had a lot of new stuff to talk about.
We reached LA at around 10PM, decided to have dinner near the Staples Center and the only place open was the Yard House, which was actually a bar, but they had good food. Nabusog ako sa appetizer, as usual. Haha!
After dinner, we brought Ino to his house, then went back to Tita Ellen's place in Woodland Hills, and lo and behold, she had just arrived from Fremont with Tito Rey (they attended the funeral that day. Tita Espi and kids had driven in from Phoenix, Tito Gerry came, and there were other cousins and uncles and aunts there, it was a reunion that started at midnight and ended way after I had gone to bed.
Day 14, lunch with JoEl and Joe (forgot to take photos of us four together, drats!) that lasted four hours of kwentuhan. Then last minute shopping and then back to Woodland Hills for more Umali Family getting together till the wee hours.
Day 15, we woke up to a house full of people who had slept over the night before. Breakfast was a noisy family affair. Soon it was time for Tita Ellen to drive us to the airport, we said our goodbyes with promises to see each other again soon (most of them are coming to Manila this month, July, for a big family event) and to stay longer next time we go there.
It was a whirlwind trip, more tiring than I expected, but worth it and extra fun. There were many places I'd always wanted to see and did, certainly I formed a greater appreciation for the United States of America, which till then I had only seen through my favorite TV shows, most of which happen to be crime dramas, so you can imagine what sort of impression I've always held. But the most unique thing about this trip is that we had so many people to visit, and they were all so happy to see us, and they all made our going there extra special. So thanks to all our hosts, who all asked us to stay longer next time (Except Tina, but that's understandable since we see her every year. Haha! Although if I did stay longer, I would have had time to properly organize her pantry. My OCness was kicking in, sayang there was no time.) and to bring our kids next time. Yes we will, and it will be even more fun!