USA Roadtrip 2013: Part 3

Hello,

I am finally blogging the last part of my USA series!!!

So in this post we were in Las Vegas and Grand Canyon before we headed back to Vancouver!

Maybe I watched too many Hollywood movies and had too high an expectation, or maybe I went there with my parents, but it wasn't as nice as it had been portrayed to be! I was expecting bright lights, casinos everywhere (this bit was true), and free drinks (IDK WHY)... Firstly, the lights were okay - in comparison with NYC's Time Square...their LED light displays were MEH. Secondly, there were a lot of people promoting strip clubs or prostitutes (literally had people dressed up in a t shirt saying "FAST - we get the girls to you in 20 minutes" giving out flyers... I mean, is it really necessary???

But I do get that it's Vegas and I shouldn't hv went with my parents. But still, I expected a lot. The most fun in Vegas was watching Cirque du Soleil "O" at the Bellagio! The show was simply amazing. I was very captivated by most acts (some acts were pretty boring (the ones similar to those you see in Orchard Road), and I did yawn - oops). Nevertheless, the show from the very beginning was extremely interesting and the stage setting was so beautiful. It was kinda like a water show - people were appearing and disappearing from the water. Amazing and once more, amazing!

In Vegas, we also went to a premium outlet. Holy cow! Premium outlets are the places to be at! I think we went to 5 premium outlets in total or something. Some were really lame and boring, but some were freaking amazing! The amazing ones had bigger name brands like Michael Kors, Kate Spade, and even Bally. I didn't buy anything too expensive because I used my own money most of the time. Except for a Michael Kors bag my mommy bought for me! Now that I think of it I wish I had brought it over man................. 

A big regret was not being able to eat at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant in Vegas. Also, we didn't go for an international buffet at one of the restaurants which would have probably been amazing. Oh well, there's always a next time! I want to earn money fast and bring my parents around! :)

After Vegas, we were in Arizona!!! To visit the majestic Grand Canyon. It was fucking fabulous!!! But to prepare you for the Grand Canyon, here are some pictures we took even before we were in Grand Canyon City. 

TOP OF THE WORLD - almost...

Somewhere outside, near our hotel! 

And... are you ready for this??? Grand Canyon

in 

3

2

1

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Believe it or not, in the picture below, we weren't blinking, we both just have really small asian eyes. HAHAHA

Zy enjoyed himself very much! He loves nature and all (he's kinda like the complete opposite of me), and look at him standing so close to the edge! My daddy was THIS close to scolding him! My dad has a fear of heights and was afraid Zy was gonna fall backwards! HAHAHA My daddy is the cutest!

It was surprisingly cold and windy when we were in Arizona - which is seldom the case... So my parents decided to hide inside these 'bushes' while waiting for the shuttle bus! Hahahaha Aren't they the cutest? And my daddy is carrying my bag LOL.

Dare devil????? HAHAHA NAH, I just made it look like it was a cliff. Success??? ;)

Peaceful - or I might have been really afraid of falling backwards while taking this picture (below)! HAHAHA

"In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which is in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is. I hope you will not have a building of any kind, not a summer cottage, a hotel or anything else, to mar the wonderful grandeur, the sublimity, the great loneliness and beauty of the canyon. Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it."

- Theodore Roosevelt

We were all extremely in love with Grand Canyon. Like Theodore Roosevelt mentioned, this wonder is unparalleled throughout the world, and I have to agree. This wonder is a natural wonder and it just looked pretty damn amazing to have this grandeur out of nowhere for us to admire. I know Zy loves it there and would want to go back! And I would go back there with him. :) 

After 2 nights at the Grand Canyon, we started our journey back home to Vancouver! It took us 3 days just to get back... 

We passed by Hoover Damn on the way back! Which was also extremely nice to look at - but it was warm, warm, warm there!!!

ON THE ROAD!!!

Some railway we passed by and I decided that zy should pose here. LOL.

Gorgeous sunset!

You're welcome, but I doubt I will go again... Not that their service was bad, but because I don't think we will travel that much on the road again. 

This view is an absolute delight!!! Idk how the clouds worked their magic, but look!!! Half the mountain is gone!!!! Hahaha, oh and we were at yet another premium outlet.

Back to Canada!!!

Here's a picture of my daddy helping out in my uncle's garden. I think he aspires to be a gardener when he retires! Hahahah Or maybe he's just acting diligent. HAHAHA

Zy and I went on another date to Stanley Park! I have been there once...a loooooong looooong time ago! When I was 14! Couldn't remember anything besides the big tree (which you will see later)! 

Look here's ZY and the rest of Vancouver! LOL

And there's me!!!

Okay, then us! Hahahaha the pictures came out really nice so I had to post everything ;)

Okay!!! TREE! Massive hollow tree that some conservationists are still trying to save. It fell some time ago, during a storm, and they are now using metal rods to hold it together. If you look carefully, you'll see a metal rod right behind. It is supposedly really wide - wide enough to fit a car, probably not the whole car but if the other end were open, a small car would be able to drive though.

OH LOOK DOLPHIN!!! We decided to go to the aquarium despite have very little time left and I am glad we did! Hahaha! I haven't been to the SEA aquarium in Singapore, so I can't compare, but this aquarium was really nice! They had a lot of shows - which we didn't manage to catch unfortunately because of the time we had. We caught a 4D show though! Hahaha

STUCK HERE MUAHAHAHA

That was probably it from our little date! Wilfred and Winston brought our families for dinner! We had Japanese food!!! I love the Japanese cuisine! Then we went to somewhere opposite Canada Place and took a couple of pictures here! 

Thanks Winston and Wilfred for the dinner!!! :)

On our last day out in Vancouver before we headed back to Singapore, we just hung out at Canada Place yet again! And went shopping at Robson! Didn't buy a lot of things before we had to head back! 

I really should have taken pictures of our lunch at Red Robin. I seldom like white people places, but my family wanted something Canadian so we went there! Had this orgasmic burger and holy cow Imma bring my friends there - if they ever come!!! GUYS YOU ALL READING THIS???

And then it was back to Singapore! I honestly miss the times when my family and boyfriend were over in Canada with me. Just touring, and enjoying ourselves. I wish Zy can come over again. I miss him :( LDR sucks... I hope Dec comes quick so I get to see him soon!!! I want to travel with Zy again! HELLO YOU READING THIS???

After I went back to Singapore, I took very little pictures. I have grown so lazy to utilize my camera. But I like taking pictures, so I think I will pick it up again very soon! Need to document my life MORE. I have some pictures on film and I will upload them here soon! So stay tuned to mynameiscand! 

In the meantime, instagram: cutheties

FOLLOW ME!!! I update my instagram more often than I update my facebook. Trust me on that. Fb is becoming obsolete in my life right now. Hahahaha! See you on the other side!

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USA Roadtrip 2013: Part 2

PART 2: Disneyland, Disney Adventure Park, and Universal Studios Hollywood!!!

We woke up in Anaheim, and it was super California-ish. I initially thought the whole palm trees thing was only in Los Angeles, but in Anaheim it was the same thing! Palm trees everywhere! A very pretty sight ^^

Disneyland California has two separate parks, which were both amazing and extremely huge. We did not manage to finish them in two days. We spent a day at each park, and still didn't manage to take pictures with every character (they appear at different timings), neither did we sat on every ride :( But it was seriously the happiest place on earth and I love it! I would totally go back again!!!!!

Here we are posing with Mickey (on the grass) in Disneyland!

Chip and Dale!!! My fellow chipmunk friends ;) 

ZY with his brother, aka Donald Duck. 

It was a dream to see the castle!!! I loved it, it was super gorgeous! The only sad thing is that there were too many people around so it was really hard to take a nice picture... But still it looks stunning!

Tarzan's treehouse! 

Once upon a time, my favorite disney character was Eeyore. I'll always have a special place in my heart for him! I think I've always loved his erratic behavior and crazy mood swings. Either that, or I was suffering depression (just like Eeyore - or so he seemed to be). LOL

POOHHHHH! Super cute I love Pooh teehee!

It's a small world! A big exhibition with a lot of dolls and we were on a boat! It was lovely and everything was very detailedly (is there such a word??) put together. It did get boring after a while though LOL. It's still worth going to.

I'M IN MINNIE MOUSE'S CHAIR!!!!!!!

Spot ZY. He's quite evidently interested in Minnie Mouse's kitchen.... He might be a good house husband. HAHAHAH Just kidding.

Ya, daddy + cuckoo clock at Minnie's house. LOL. He found that super amusing and asked for a pic! Haahhaha Very funny daddy! 

MICKEY!!! But somehow he's kind fake. Where is his red pants?!?!?!?

There was a disney parade and it was amazing!!! Kept shooting non stop! Here's Goofy with Chip (or Dale)

Aladin and Genie ^^

UNDER THE SEA~ UNDER THE SEA~~ Little mermaid!!! My fav princess (I think). I have a trouble deciding which princess I like best. It's a tough fight between Jasmine, Ariel, and Anastasia (is she even a disney princess - okay I just did a search, she is not a Disney princess). HMMM

Although the tower evidently shows that this is Rapunzel's hideout, Rapunzel, Princess Aurora, and Snow White were present!

FAV DISNEY MOVIE EVER. LION KING. Hakuna Matata!!!!!! I used to sing this song all the time in secondary school, and I still am very in love with the song. I also went to the musical twice... Once in London and another time in Singapore. AMAZING nevertheless! 

Peter and Tinkerbell! And there were many more that I didn't take pictures of, or the pictures were blur or something... Which is rather sad :(

LE MAGICAL CASTLE AT NIGHT!!! Isn't it a SUCH pretty sight???

That brings us to the end of day 1 at Disneyland! It was freaking amazing and I finally managed to fulfill my dream of going to Disneyland. I remember when I was younger, I was always annoying my mommy to bring me to Disneyland in Hong Kong or Tokyo... And I'm glad I got to go to Disneyland in Anaheim. Disneyland California was the first every disneyland to be opened/created. Although it does not have a lot of thrilling rides - remember this place if after all for kids and you can go to six flags for that - but I would still strongly recommend everyone to visit this happy place at least once in your lifetime. It was SUCH an experience, I think everyone should go there to bring their inner kid out. It was really the happiest place on earth. Everyone was happy, I was happy! Loved it. Now my dream is to bring my kids there! Hahahaha 

By the next day, my feet were HURTING like a bitch, thanks to my flats which were super FLAT. LOL. I still wore it anyway. We conquered Disneyland Adventure Park!!! Disneyland Adventure Park is more for older kids, the rides were more thrilling but not VERY thrilling or anything. My parents could ride most of the rides. Except Paradise pier, which is the very roller coaster you are seeing in the background of the picture below. 

It looks lame... But seriously, one of the best roller coasters ever!!! Once it starts it doesn't stop. OH NO, it does NOT stop OR slow down when it is on it's way up. Usually roller coasters slow down while going up to create suspense... BUT HELL NO THIS ONE DOES NOT!!! All the way and then upside down and BOOM! You are done with the ride, thank you very much!

Flirting with Donald. TEEHEE. ZY looks genuinely pissed LOL. You know I still love you!!! ;)

LE PARENTS AND I! We caught an Aladdin musical in one of the buildings behind, and seriously I am glad we did! I love Aladdin!!! And princess Jasmine, and GENIE of course!!! The staging was really awesome, and the cast was amazing!

Okay, we saw it here. 

Sat the Hollywood Tower, and it was scary but still bearable. I thought the rocket (or spaceship, I can't remember the name) in Genting was way scarier! But they create suspense while you wait... So that's something really interesting and made the ride scarier than it seems!

That's the Cars ride in the background! I loved the ride too! Even though it was a 50+ min wait... I loved their concept of racing, but its not a go-kart! Our car was racing with the car next to us, but we're on the roller coaster, so we aren't actually driving it... Okay it sounds weird now. LOL But it was fun!

Here's daddy swagging out in his "solid" sunglasses. LOL

So long, Cars land!!! 

I REALLY WANTED A MICKEY HAT. DAMN.

Andddddd we were back in Paradise Pier! To catch the more than awesome Colors of the World. A water display - you'll see more pictures later in the post! Be patient! ;)

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS PIC!!!!!!

Does it not look fucking magical?!?!?!? Bcs it does it me!!!

Prepping for the night show! Loving the ferris wheel which lights up and was such a bling display of lights!!!!!!!!

There was music and beautiful fountain displays, and videos (?? Or images projected onto the water)! Zy took a video and my camera died shortly after a few shots. I swear after it died, a part of me died too. But it was such a good display of waterworks and colors and disney characters! My daddy says he regrets not staying. The show was at 9pm at night, and my parents and Uncle Kenny left first. We were there from 10am??? Crazy much?

Balloons from Up!!!

Amazing isn't it??? It ended my day on an extremely high note! After which we went to buy our Disneyland tees - which you will see in the next post!!! I love both Disneyland and Disneyland Adventure Park. I would definitely go back to both parks again. If I ever have the chance! Fucking love you Walt Disney! Idk how you created this idea and all I know is that it is fucking brilliant. 

Following that, we went to Universal Studios Hollywood!!! Because a lady my mommy was talking to told us to! They had the universal studio tours, the Simpsons ride, and the scary haunted house, but everything else was the same - according to zy. I have never been to Universal Studios Singapore, so I enjoyed it! But zy spoilt some of the rides for me. Especially the 4D transformers one! Hahahaha

On the red carpet yo!!!!! 

The Universal Studio tour took us on a ride around places where movie stars filmed at! It was quite an eye opener, and it was really interesting! Below are some pictures - unfortunately I didn't manage to take pictures of the 4D King Kong ride (which was included on the tour) bcs my camera would get wet... And yeah, it was nice looking at what actually goes on behind the scenes. Things you thought were real, actually aren't! Like the buildings in some shows. The guy mentioned that it was only made to look real for the audience who can't really see every single detail on screen!

Some houses from the popular series Desperate Housewives I think.

A plane wreck.

Here we can see Krusty Land! Where the Simpsons ride was at. It freaked me out... The fucking ride. The rides here all had back stories and this one was that a psycho killer was after the Simpsons or the owner of this theme park. And the Simpsons (and us obviously) happened to be there. LUCKY US. 

SCOOBY DOO!!!!! WHERE ARE YOU

With the infamous Universal Studios ball. LOL

We had our dinner at Bubba Gump, and seriously it is one of my favorite restaurants up to date!!! I fucking love how they specialize in Shrimp and shellfish. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!! I fell in love when I was here in NYC and now I'm back again! So happy :)

Focus on the FOOD!!! LOL wrong camera settings. I need to brush up on my skills man.

Pasta, fries, burger, salad, and even rice. The rice was a perfect cook, and fucking delicious too! What's not to love! Guess which one is mine. LOL It's all flashy on the left with the big stand and cone cups. ;) 

EH LOOK BIG GUITAR. Let's take a picture with it!!!!! #OKAYCAN

Well, that was the end of my USA trip part 2, where we spent our time in Anaheim! It was simply amazing and I would come back here again. No need to even think about it. I would come back to Disneyland in a heart beat. I'm not too sure about Universal Studios though, because it seems like everything is pretty much alike back home in Singapore. Next post and the last post on my road trip will be on Las Vegas and the majestic Grand Canyon. 

Completely off the track but I'm hungry. Damn. My class isn't till 630pm. And I'm excited! I can collect my car in a couple of days! HOLY COW!!! Cy'all in the next post!!!!!!!!!!

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