Finally, I have some time to start putting in some pictures from the recent trip! It was a super good and long road trip, we covered some really awesome places!
3 Different States, 2 National Parks, 3 Major Outlets and tons of other shopping places… Tons of Food, Lobsters , oysters, Buffets, Slot machines..etc basically the Whole 9 Yards!!
When I finally returned the Rental Car, the guy, when he checked the mileage, said “Woah, that a pretty good chuck of driving you did!” =)
In Chronological Order
18th Dec
Touch Down! Home visit in Silicon Valley and Check into Granada Inn for the night!
The FIRST Stop was actually at Ranch 99 ! Right off I-280 Towards San Jose! So as you can see, everyone was “enjoying” their First Taste of chinese Food tapau’d from Ranch 99, the asian Super store!
Tons of Luggages!
That first night, every one was tired. So we just headed to our Fav House of Pho for dinner. I’ll dig up the picture n post!
The following morning, at the Granada Inn after the "sumptuous" breakfast haha
19th-21st Dec
Head up to the mountains! Yosemite National Park!
Story of the Mah Lai Ko…
I think the Deer probably diarrhea big time after eating the left over Mah Lai Ko from the day before. We need to get his attention to pose, so feed anything that was on hand hehe
After Eating, our friend the deer decided to pose for us to take some pictures!
On the Second day, Awesome Weather! We headed up for a light trek to Yosemite Falls. Fortunately, it wasn’t icy even though it was REALLY cold. As long as the sun is shining, its still bearable.
Some major discussions about the future policies…
Father’s Fav Bench!
We headed for lunch at the Yosemite Village, before proceeding to Bridal Veil.. Kinda disappointing , cuz wrong season. Bridal Veil had *no Veil!!! No water fall , we were the only people there, apart from a few other disappointed stragglers..
Anyway , onward to Tunnel VIEW, in time for the superb “golden” sunset.
Mx – > Special snowing effect by Dennis..it actually wasn't snowing there yet but there was snow on the floor here and there
Hmmm, didn't know my iPhone takes such good pics hehe
Some Group shots at Tunnel View!
Spectacular Sunset, totally golden!
Scenic Pictures! Beautiful light and Cold Mornings!
AFter several Days of non-stop “Ang Mo Food” , everybody beh tahan, needed to have some chinese food in the system!!
Back in Santa Clara, we had the BEST chinese dinner ever - Hong Kong Saigon seafood harbor restaurant in Sunnyvale! Well I've (Mx) been craving for Chinese food and this restaurant always had tons of Chinese (Not ang mobs) waiting outside, so it must be good. The braised beef brisket was thumbs-up! Dad said it's hard to get such standard in Singapore.
22nd Dec - > Lombard Street
DOWNTOWN San Francisco , Golden Gate bridge (red in color, never understood why they call it golden) , China Town, Lombard STreet, Pier 47 for Seafood, Clam chowder , Dungeness Crabs etc!
Golden Gate Bridge! We were so lucky weather was good, skies were clear that day. On bad days, the whole bridge gets covered in low-lying clouds.
Tough Climb Down, but WORTH it!!
Check out my fat bulldog face lol!
Lunch at Fisherman's wharf. Check out their BIBS!
Clam chowder and Dungeness Crab was yum yum.
We headed to Chinatown in the evening. It gets dark before 5pm here during winter, so it looks late but it was barely 5pm. Bought a lot of souvenirs here.
From Chinatown, we can see the triangular shaped building - That is Transamerica Pyramid and it is the tallest skycraper in San Francisco skyline.
23rd-24th DEC
HOLLYWOOD! Los Angeles Tour, REdondo beach, Santa Monica Blvd, UNIVERSAL STUDIO!
It was a long, tiring drive (for poor Dennis) from Santa Clara to Los Angeles. That's about 7+hours drive inclusive of breaks. We had Jack-in-the-Box for lunch at the rest stop.
Traffic in LA is bad as usual..people drive crazy there. We decided to pop by Hollywood Blvd before checking into the hotel as Residence Inn was further down along the beach area.
Here's Hollywood for you. Crowded, bustling with activities especially at the Highland Center where we took this pic.
Another good chinese dinner (thanks to Yelp).
China Tea House Chinese Restaurant. Sweet and sour pork ribs and Claypot stew was Yum Yum!
Next morning, we headed to Universal Studios Hollywood. Weather was nice, hot but not humid.
Started at the House of Horrors..I heard my mom was screaming non-stop lol!
Glad they had fun. Well, I missed the fun cos that house wasn't "preggy-friendly" :(
Universal Studios Tour - We queued for an hour but it wasn't so bad as we were pretty much wallking through the snake queue all the time.
Tram ride was cool! There were some fun moments with "King Kong Attack" and the 3D glasses and shaking trams made it so real haha.
Long-awaited seafood dinner at Redondo Beach! We had oysters and crabs but lobster was kinda overpriced on Christmas Eve, so we didn't get it.
We headed back to the hotel for more crabs and maggi mee!
25th-26th DEC
LAS VEGAS! Slots machines, Buffets, Shopping!
Vegas was beautiful with all the lights along the strip! Will post more pics from Dennis' super cam
We stayed at The Venetian.
OMG is the room super big or what??? 2 nights here is not enough for me!!!
Checking out the Christmas lightings after dinner
THE BUFFET at the Wynn hotel - We queued for an hour. Seriously. Spread was crazy a lot. Food's not too bad.
27th –28th DEC
Head off towards Nevada – > First Stop, Hover DAM!
Jam for an hour at hoover dam cos of security check. They're just worried about terrorists wanting to bomb the dam (just like 007 movies).
Took selfies for everyone in the car since we weren't doing anything while waiting in the queue. Driver looks like he's having a headache haha
We took a quick pit stop at Hoover Dam as it was really crowded and we had to rush off to Grand Canyon.
The Grand Canyon – > SPECTACULAR! AMAZING! and very cold….
-> D700 Shot
Souvenir Shopping in the Store
29th Dec - Barstow
Stayed one night at Barstow California Inn. Barstow Outlets were there, so more shopping for the ladies!
30th Dec – 2nd Jan 2014
Back HOME for more shopping, eating, Steamboat, Enzo scolding etc! =p
30th Dec - Dim Sum breakfast at my favorite Saigon restaurant.
New Year's Eve - Dim Sum (again!) at Joyluck Palace in Cupertino Village.
Dinner Shabu Shabu Steamboat at home
Finally Dad gets to eat his long-awaited lobster :P
Enzo refused to let go of my dad's foot. Maybe it was too comfy
Oh man SUPER FULL..Now i really look preggy lol
New Year's Day
Lunch at Mama Chen (Taiwan)
Dinner at my favorite Saigon restaurant (for the 3rd and final time)
Our "fav" hong kong chai waiter fishing out our 4-pound lobster.
Go Ahead and Click on the maps! Its not everywhere we covered but it shows the general places we hit!
We’ll be posting more pictures and stories! Stay Tuned!
Better quality pics coming up from Dennis' supercam. The not so good pics above are from my iPhone. :p
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