Okay I had enough time to organize my pictures and my stories. So drum roll please. Ah btw, the pictures belong to my mom's classmates. I borrowed them from their website (Hehe! Sneaky!) kaya there's only a handful of them. Anyway this trip was strictly my mother's since she was going to attend her High School Reunion, International Edition, so basically I was just a tag-along. Just a note.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas was our first stop in our 10-day trip to the West Coast. I would say this is may favorite of the three places we went to. Maybe because it reminded me of Manila -- Nightlife!!! Anyway this city has nothing but dry, rocky mountains. There are some plants here and there (and they go by the name of cacti) and that's it. If not for the casinos and the nightlife this city has to offer, I don't think there would be plenty of tourists here.

We arrived at the Jockey Club and I could tell my mom was pretty excited of seeing her classmates. I was amused. I mean, hello, they were classmates in high school pa. I didn't know then that they're really close. Seeing all of them like that, joking and horsing around, I was wishing that somehow ganun din kami ng mga classmates ko, be it high school or college.

This picture was taken when we were strolling around the "strip." The hotels here have different attractions to offer the public. For example, the background you see there belongs to the hotel/casino Paris. I really don't know what their attraction was. Basta it looked a lot like Paris because of the style of the buildings. Besides there's an Eiffel Tower restaurant in front of it. The attractions I remember watching were those of:

* Bellagio -- They have a fountain in front of this hotel but I'm not talking about a fountain like the one you see in Rizal Park. I'm talking a BIG one, like...let's see, almost the size of SM Megamall. And every hour or so, they have this spectacular display of lights and sounds, just like the ones in the malls.
* Venetian -- You know the canals in Venice? They have that too, INSIDE the hotel. We also went to Madam Taussad's Wax Musuem here, but of course this is old news compared to the other attractions. Hehe!
* Luxor -- We didn't go inside this hotel but this one, I would say, is my favorite. Whenever we drive through it, my neck kinda hurts since I was busy sizing it up. The hotel is an exact copy of a pyramid and their front attraction, it was the Sphinx. Quite ingenious huh?
* Uhmm those hotels top my list. If I can remember some of them, I'll update my post.

Buena Park, California

My mom's classmate rented a van and the 7 of us drove all the way from Las Vegas to California. The trip took ~8-10 hours I think, and that's inclusive of short stops. We visited a classmate of my mom and you know what, he treated us to an all-expense paid stay at a motel! Imagine there's 7 of us and he paid for 3 rooms for 2 nights. WOW! We're not even his relatives, he was just a classmate, and take note, HIGH SCHOOl classmate! Galeng!

Anyway the day after, the gang went to Disneyland, compliments of two of my mom's classmates (who are architects of Disneyland). Cool eh!

All in all, I think we went to just 4 rides. Kainis noh! Well what can I do, they were all KJ. I wanted to ride to the roller coaster (I think it was Space Mountain -- According to my cousin, it was a rollercoaster but the amusing thing is you don't see where you're going because you see you're inside the mountain, and it's dark! )

BTW the picture above was taken near the entrance of Disneyland. Cute di ba!

Some of the rides we went to were:

* Indiana Jones -- Oh God this was awesome! If I have the time, I'd probably do it again. Problem is, the line's too long. (Hey Ginny, you WOULD like this.)
* Soarin' California -- sort of a 3D show, with the audience 30 ft above the ground so parang we were flying all over California. There were slideshows of Yosemite Rock Formation, Palm Springs, over snowy mountains, fishing areas, etc.
* Pirates of the Caribbean -- I really didn't want to go here since this is like a puppet show. But I guess this was kinda ok since it's amazing how they did it, parang totoo.
* Big Train (or something) -- Ah this I like! Kaya lang because of this intense ride (which is like a kiddie ride to me), ayun nahilo mga kasama ko so we didn't go to any rides any more. Can you believe it?!

So by 5pm, we were done. Sayang we weren't able to go to some of the good rides. Libre na nga eh.

Look at the castle! It's beautiful, don't you agree? I love this picture so much.

San Diego, California

I think we went to two attractions here: SeaWorld and Old Town San Diego. No pictures yet since I haven't got a scanner so we'll have to wait.

Anyway we stayed in my Tita's best friend, who is sort of a relative na. She dropped us off in SeaWorld. I think we were able to finish all the shows and attractions there: the pets show (where cats, dogs, and birds, perform different tricks -- each of them has their own show and sometimes working together to perform one complicated trick), the seals and otters show (where the set is somewhat like a Home Improvement theme -- of course, there were tricks galore), the dolphins, and the main attraction -- Shamu.

But for me, the best part, would probably be...when I touched a dolphin. Yep you read it right, nakahawak na ko ng dolphin!!! Feels like a hotdog. I dunno if my mom was able to snap a picture of me together with a dolphin. Sana.

Well I think that sums it up. I'll add some more info once I remember it. Ahhh, the memories.