And how we love being home again!! But for now I’ll rewind to Tuesday when we went to Disneyland. Because it was Mum’s birthday (in Aussie time) she got in for free! That was about the only good thing about the day.
From the minute we walked through the gates Mum and I knew it would be a testing day. Unlike Universal Studios Disneyland didn’t seem to care if you had special needs. To get a special needs guide you had to line up in front of some building with a very long queue (the building was for everyone ie able-bodied people and those with disabilities). After that we moved down the main street and decided where to go. We went to the ride where you go a river cruise like you’d expect in Indiana Jones. To find the wheelchair entrance was a challenge itself as the sign said to use the exit and pointed to somewhere but the wheelchair entrance was hidden away. The boat’s wheelchair facility was impressive I must say; it had a hoist that lifted up for me to board, then it lowered down to the seating. After the cruise we went into the Indiana Jones store where Mum bought Quinnie a little Indiana Jones bear.
Then we caught the train (oh we had to wait for about twenty minutes for the accessible train to arrive) which took us around the park. Then Dad wanted to have something called gumpo for lunch. Never again. It’s like a big round piece of doughy bread and in the centre was this spicy goo. After lunch we went on the steam boat which was nice as it was a sunny afternoon. Then we wondered aimlessly as the fatigue set in. We made it to Toontown then decided to go home. Earlier that morning Aunty Rob, Loris and Em went off on their own way so on our way home we had no Loris with his trusty Tomtom to guide us home, so we took the scenic route (in other words we got lost!!!). However it only took 1.5hrs to get home.
After freshening up, we went out for dinner for Mum’s birthday. Walking along the main street of Redondo we saw a restaurant sign with a boomerang on it so Mum decided that was the one. We had very nice meals and the atmosphere was of an Aussie pub, excluding the Aussie music unfortunately.
On Wednesday we went to Downtown LA expecting a huge mall. What it was were streets lined with stall after stall, most ran by Mexicans and Asians. It started to rain and thunder so Mum and I had to weave under stalls and what made things worse was I desperately needed the toilet! We finally made it to an indoor area where it had toilets and a few cafes. After having lunch (a safe cheese omelet for me) we wondered some more. We had to buy some hoodies because it was so bloody cold!
Now onto the airport… What a bunch of arrogant, rude, unhelpful people the security guards are there. When Mum, Cameron and I lined up to go through the screening a guard told Mum that she had to leave me to take our bags through the screening. Mum said she wouldn’t leave me. They said Cameron could stay with me, Mum said this is my daughter, this is my son and I’m not comfortable leaving them. In the end Cameron had to stay with me and we had to go into a room where Cameron was patted down. Then Mum came in just when the guard was starting her thing on me. She said Mum couldn’t touch me. However she was expecting me to lean forward by myself. In the end she allowed Mum to help me so she could take a swab from my chair.
I’m happy to say that the flight home was better than the flight there. I slept through two movies but poor Mum has done her neck supporting my head during the flight.
We touched down in Sydney at 6.15am. Back onboard around 8.30am. At the end of flight United realized what a hassle it was for Mum to carry me all the way down to row 49 so they gave us all United packs to use next time. Never again!
We touched down in Melbourne around 10am. Mum and I had fun in Duty Free.
Loris kindly gathered all our belongings, so when we came out of Duty Free everything was waiting for us.
And that’s the end of our American adventure. People say once you’d traveled OS you get the travel bug. Not for Mum, Aunty Rob and I. We say it could take us ten years to forget about all the dramas go OS again!
We left around 10am and are on our way home at 7.30! This won’t be a long post because I’m absolutely stuffed but we’ve had a great day at Universal Studios. I was extremely impressed with the accessibility. We went on the tour which had several unexpected things happen during it including an earthquake in a subway and sighting of Jaws, I hate sharks!!!!! We went down Hysteria Lane from Desperate Housewives.
I had my photo taken with almost every characters. I kept thinking it’s for my boys! Spongebob Squarepants was very cheeky, almost horny! *LOL*
Tomorrow’s Disneyland.
Today we went to Beverly Hills!!!! Going there we passed a cemetery for fallen troops. It was very sober and just disbelieving. We soon found ourselves a car park and walked along where the stars on the ground. We saw actors’ hand and footprints, had our photos taken with Elvis. Then we had lunch at a flatbread café which was really nice. Then we went aunty Robbie, Mum and my heaven called DSW Shoes! It was a huge store full of shoes and bags and a cute floorman who kept asking us for assistance. Oh before lunch we went to the Chocolate Factory where they had every conceivable thing covered with chocolate.
Walking back to the car Mum and I had an altercation with Darth Vader. He was taking his helmet off and walked straight into me. Mum starting laughing but he said, “You think it’s funny? Oh real funny!” Asshole.
Then we went to Rodeo Drive. Us girls all drooled over the fashions of all the top designers and felt very poor. Ladies, purple is the in color! All the beautiful frocks!!!! We drove through some streets of Beverly Hills to look at the houses. They were so manicured, so perfect.
For dinner we went to Santa Monica. Amazing! In its main strip it’s the buskers capital of the world! We ate at Johnny Rockets with very nice waiter (you have no idea how some waiters have ignored my existence). I enjoyed the scenery if you know what I mean 
.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Sorry for not writing. After Grand Canyon on Wednesday my body said ENOUGH and on Thursday night I made the stupid mistake of going into the hot tub, but more about that later!
On Thursday Aunty Robbie and Loris went to Monumental Valley, leaving Mum, Dad, Cameron, Emmie and I to have a chill-out day. We had a sleep-in and decided to head to Wallmart.
Wallmart is Unbelivably huge. It has every conceivable thing from food to clothes, jewelry to computers, pharmacials to guns! Yes guns! Americans get a much wider variety of everything, it’s crazy! Cameron was very impressed with laptops;; they’re so cheap here. Mum bought some pj’s for kiddies back home. I bought our Evy some gorgeous Pooh sandles (sooo cute) and a Snoopy t-shirt for myself. Oh Mum and I bought ourselves nail polish PENS!
For lunch we took back beagles for lunch with ham and cheese. Yesterday we found some cream cheese so now Mum and I are on the hunt for some cranberry sauce! That would be perfect.
Now the hot tub incident….. Normally I’m good at remembering about my implant and the no’s that come with it. We hopped into the hot tub and it was so bloody hot. After twenty minutes I started to feel really funny so we decided to hop into the pool. I made it to sitting on the step of the pool which was freezing cold then I almost fainted, almost threw up, almost…. Mum sat with me on a chair for a while and I came good. Later in bed I remembered about my implant and extreme heat. Oopps. Oh well it still works. *LOL*
Yesterday we left Flagstaff and our peaceful hotel and travelled to Pheonix. On the way we stopped at Mountazuma Castle where you can see where the Indians built caves up in the rocks. It was amazing to
think the Indians did them all by home-made tools. Dad was freaking out because snakes are known to be on the walking track. When we were leaving the lady who served us rushed out and gave me this beautiful Christmas tree decoration.
The “disabled” room at the Best Western was f’fen useless. The shower was over the bath, when we had specifically asked if it was a roll-in shower. Actually Aunty Robbie had phoned them in the morning to double check. Their breakfast area wasn’t accessible.
We hopped into the pool virtually after arriving! It was nice. For dinner Dad wanted Mexican so Loris took us into the city but the restaurant he thought was there wasn’t there. So they asked a taxi driver and they he recommended another which ended up to be really nice. Mum and I ordered a strawberry margaretia pitcher which is a jug. In our second pitcher we asked to have more alcohol added because we couldn’t taste it.
Today we travelled back to L.A to Redondo. We are looking forward to the comfy beds again.
Everytime we pass a Denny’s Restaurant I think of Denny from Greys.
Once again there was a stuffed up when we arrived at the hotel in Rodendo. They have booked the disabled room out this morning so tonight Cameron and I have to sleep in a normal room; Cameron on a roll-out bed.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Flagstaff
Driving through Flagstaff we saw Quinn’s Restaurant! Today we drove to the Grand Canyon and saw snow on particular mountains. The countryside is very pretty with pine trees.
The Grand Canyon is just spectacular! There are no other words to describe it. In the morning it was so hot. Mum and I (and my chair) struggled already as we were tired to start with so we took it slow. I tell you what, my chair needs better suspension! Some views are so out of this world…. And the shadows from the clouds on some rocks make it more awesome.
We saw a deer in amongst trees and I saw my first two squirrels! They’re so cute!!! They reminded me of mice I used to have. Emmie fed them chocolate chip cookies. We finally got to the restaurants part and had a very nice lunch.
After lunch we found the shuttle buses to take us back to the car. Mum said the wrong drop-off to the driver but it worked out for the better because we saw a group of yelks(??), similar to deers and we also saw mule deers.
There’s an area Cameron’s Point in the Grand Canyon so Dad took photos of Cameron standing under it.
Today we left crazy Vegas and drove to calm Flagstaff. On the way we stopped at Hoover Dam. It’s so massive! Mum and I opted to not walk across the bridge as it was so bloody hot. Think Cairns without the humidity. Mum and I soon found the souvenir shop where it was air-conditioned! We ain’t silly! We started talking to a man and when he was leaving he gave a copper Indian bracelet! Nice guy.
We drove through the desert and it was amazing to see cloud shadows on mountains in the distance.
Also we saw many trailer parks. For lunch we stopped at Wendy’s where we had the best burgers we have ever tasted. After we drove on the famous Route 66 while rocking out to Bad Company and Led Zeppelin. I felt like Dean and Sam on supernatural (ahhh!)
Getting closer to Flagstaff everything was so green. There were ranches at one minute then more trailer parks. Further on it got more country with pine trees and Buffalo signs.
Last night I was going to write but it took me a while to login and then I couldn’t be stuffed. On Saturday and Sunday night we stayed up until 2-3am, just sitting out on the balcony amazed at the sea of lights. Right in front of us is that tower which has the insane rides on the top. Everytime we see it functioning we think what f’fen idiots people are going on it. It never stops; obviously there’s people going on it 24/7!
Yesterday and today I woke up at 10:30-11am. Yesterday Mum, Aunty Robbie, Em and I set off to go to some shops somewhere taking the monorail but when we stopped at the MGM it turned out to be the wrong stop. So when asking a lady at the help desk she suggested another shopping centre. We caught a taxi and the driver who was lovely suggested yet another place which was called Premium Outlets. Talk about bargins girls!
We waited and waited for a taxi to pick us up. We had to get back to the Hilton so as Mum, Dad, aunty Robbie and Loris could see Barry Manilow. It was 7.40 when we got to the Hilton so they quickly had showered and luckily Barry was running late so they didn’t miss anything.
Today Mum and I had a restful day while the others went to Death Valley and Loris got picked up for speeding *LOL*. It was for doing 80 in a 65miles zone, he got a warning.
This afternoon Mum and I picked up the tickets for Human Nature tonight. Then we went to Paris in Vegas in search of some Effile glasses. No avail.
Tonight we had dinner at the Hilton’s Buffet. It was very nice.
Tonight we were lucky enough to meet Human Nature after the show. Mum was in heaven.
Redondo
We had planned to leave Redondo Beach around 11am but when we got to the car, we discovered that the hoist wouldn’t work. So we had to wait until they brought another car and this was after 1pm. This car is much better though.
We are on the road to Vegas as I write. Back in LA on the freeway there are hundreds of Billlboards lining it. Many are so political incorrect and back in Oz we wouldn’t dare to have them. There are many American flags up around for their Memorial Day on Monday we assume.
On the freeway we have passed clusters of homes that look exactly the same as each other. Freaky. I immediately thought of sects.
We stopped at a Macas and Cameron was in heaven because he ordered a supersized meal and he ate all of it!!
We are surrounded by huge mountains driving.
OMG we have just arrived in Vegas and it’s amazing! I can’t describe it!
There was a bit stuffed up with our rooms so we ended up with this huge assed suite.
It’s 1am and we’re still up. We took the monorail to downtown Vegas and found somewhere to eat. We enjoyed our meals and the service was nice.
For those who have e-mailed me, sorry I haven’t been able to check my mail. If you want to e-mail me you can at Jacqui_r19@hotmail.com.
After 14hrs of a torturous flight we're here in LA.
Excited!
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