Trip Summary

5 Flights

Xx Ubers / Taxi’s

Xx breakfast buffets

Xx Restaurants

2 NBA games

4 College Basketball games

1 Ice Hockey Game

8 Casinos

Countless supermarkets

Xx Shopping Centres

Xx Attractions

Worst thing about the trip was the terrible shower that felt like needles being blasted at you in San Jose.

Flight Melb to New York

• Racing through airport and almost missing connecting flight
• Walking through security screening first and then getting extra checks due to metal things on shorts

Drive Newark Airport to Springfield, Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Christmas Lights

• Picked up hire car.
• Dunkin Donuts for Morning Tea.
• Sitting in middle of theatre (rather than back row)Played basketball on court with brother and other people
• Went to gym with brother.
• Driving around at night to see Christmas lights - when wanted to stay in hotel room.
• Eating out in Restaurant - table in middle of room

Drive Springfield to New York

• Walked around town in fresh snow
• Dr Suess museum where guy stopped to tell us the story of Thing 1 and Thing 2
• Traffic driving car in New York City to find petrol was crazy
• Petrol Station was wierd and very different to ours at home
• Hard to park car outside hotel - Timbo and Coop dropped us with bags at hotel foyer while they returned car
• Hotel Room doesn’t feel safe.
• Unsure which bed to sleep in - bear window or near door
• Wanted to move bed against the wall but couldn’t move it
• Wanted to stay in room rather than go to social hour - but went anyway and got to sit in igloo outside

New York - Central Park

• Walked down bustling sidewalk to get to Central Park
• Accidentally came out of top end Central Park into a dodgy part of town
• Lunch at Mexan Restaurant didn’t like the look of, or what was on the menu but Dad wanted to eat here
• Nervous in supermarket

New York - Empire State Building & Maddison Square Garden

• Walked through Times Square again
• Very crowded at Empire State Building - in lifts and on observation deck.
• Wandered around crowded Macy’s store because mum wanted to
• Tour of Maddison Square Garden - lots of people crowding into smell spaces

New York - Liberty Island, Golf at Chelsea Pier, Rockefeller Plaza Christmas Tree

• Walk through Times Square again
• Hop on/off Bus - often people sitting behind us
• Walking through crowds of people trying to sell tickets to Statue of Liberty
• Issues with Basketball in bag at the metal detectors for Liberty Island
• Boat to Liberty Island
• Lunch on Liberty Island with the orange clothed staff / prisoners
• Crowds getting back on the boat
• Confronting at the 911 Memorial but didn’t have to go in
• Golf at Chelsea Pier
• Hop on/off bus in the dark back to Times Square
• Walking to find somewhere for dinner
• Incredibly crazy and crowded, lots of bumping and people brushing past whilst at the Rockefeller Plaza Christmas Tree

New York - Highline, Chelsea Market, Bryant Park Christmas Market, NBA Store

• Chelsea Market - lots of hustle and bustle
• Walked through very crowded Christmas Market
• Ate at very crowded Chipotle without parents
• Spent ages in crowded NBA Store
• Walked through Times Square againSocial hour drinks in the main area with other people \240rather than in our own igloo
• Thai for dinner - sat in middle of restaurant with people behind

New York - Morning Walk in the Snow, MoMA, College Basketball (two games) at Madison Square Garden

• Breakfast at Diner - very crowded.
• Very nervous and worried about going to basketball at Madison Square Garden. Unsure wether to buy tickets but decided it would be ok \240if we sat in the back row at end of aisle.
• MoMA - lots of people. Didn’t want to go but did it anyway,
• Very crowded walking back through Rockefeller Centre and Times Square again
• Very nervous at basketball but pushed through and watched two games. Crowd was very loud and lots of chanting and yelling at the first game (North Carolina vs UCLA). Second game wasn’t as loud and relaxed a it more (Ohio State vs University Kentucky)
• Walked back to hotel room in the dark.

New York Summary

• Loud - Sirens and car horns constantly (day and night)
• Crowded - Footpaths are packed and constantly have to weave through cars and people at the lights. Everyone is always rushing.
• Stinks of Dope - people smoking it everywhere.
• Walked through Times Square at least 8-10 times - Crowded, noisy and very bright and confronting.
• Ate in 16 restaurants in one week \240(3 breakfasts, 7 lunches, 6 dinners) most times there were people behind us.
• Three Shopping Centres / large shops
• Two basketball games at Maddison Square Garden
• Walked through Rockefeller Centre twice
• 12+ museums / \240tourist attractions

Fly New York to Los Angeles

• Stupid pants required extra screening at airport security again
• Pilot saying there’d be turbulence on the flight all way to LA - it wasn’t bad at all

Los Angeles - California Science Centre, NBA (Lakers vs Pistons)

• Caught bus to / from science centre
• Played basketball at hotel with two other guys that we’d never met
• Walked to / from NBA in the dark
• Crypto Arena Basketball - Very loud and full stadium. Smoke alarm went off but no evacuation needed.

Los Angeles - Christmas Eve

• Walking around downtown LA shopping for Basketball boots

Los Angeles- Christmas Day

Los Angeles - Santa Monica and Venice Beach

• Catching an Uber.
• Walking down crowded Santa Monica Pier.
• Waking towards Venice Beach - the area got dodgier and dodgier the more we walked.
• Sitting at streetball basketball courts. Didn’t want to sit over with Timbo closer to all the weird people - but did it!
• Lots of people smoking dope and selling it.
• Ate lunch courtside even though didn’t want to
• Stayed at Venice Beach for about 2 hours even though feeling really uncomfortable there.
• Caught Uber home.

Los Angeles - Watts Towers and The Getty

• Uber took us to the wrong Watts Tower location - we didn’t know where we had been dropped off, or how Uber had messed this up. Stayed calm, worked through it and caught another Uber to the correct Watts Towers.
• The area we drove through to get to Watts Towers was very very dodgy. Lots of homeless people living in shanties and very poor condition of houses and shops.
• Arrived at Watts Towers and it looked closed - it was open but looked a bit shady.
• Needing to catch two Ubers meant that we lost too much time and we missed the 11am tour. As it was now drizzling, they wouldn’t run any more tours.
• We came all this way, took two Ubers, spent more than we should have, \240travelled through dodgy areas, only to not be able to do the tour or see the towers!
• We watched their ordinary history movie, then left.
• Caught another Uber, to The Getty. Had e good laugh about the mornings events on the way.
• Queued with the crowds and then caught crowded Tram to The Getty entry,
• Queued up with big crowds to view the Van Gogh Irises painting.
• Caught another Uber home - it took forever for them to come and we had \240to stand around in the queue for over 30mins.
• Not confident to go in the swimming pool as there are other people in the pool and embarrassed to go in with \240Crocs on and graze marked on face. Thought about how no-one knows us so unlikely to say anything. Even if they did it wouldn’t matter as we’ll never see them again and we could just laugh \240about it,

LA to Palm Springs

• Driving to Palm Springs - stopped along the way to shop in sports store (Dick’s)
• Wind farm tour - watched short movie with others in the room.
• Didnt like the accomodation at Best Western - really old and dated. Didnt feel safe here but all was ok.
• Dinner at very busy restaurant - people sitting behind us.

Palm Springs

• Queued for ages to buy tickets to the Aerial Tram Car tonight. Lots of people in the queue and people standing behind us.
• Joshua Tree National Park - Very crowded at the Information Centre - could barely move in there. National Park was also very at the main sights. Had a look at them anyway.
• Caught Aerial Tram Car to top of hill. Sat in very crowded cafe while we waited,
• Crammed into tiny tram car with 75 other people. No space and shoulder to shoulder with everyone but all was ok.
• All of the lookout points were very crowded.
• Caught the tram car back down hill in the dark with 75 other people again.
• Ate at Chipotle - sat in middle of restaurant.
• Looked after Kath at supermarket when she had terrible headache.

Palm Springs to Phoenix

• Stopped for ice creams at Maccas -very dodgy town in middle of nowhere,
• Went to Light Bloom thing - in the dark at night. All \240outside and very crowded. Didn’t want to be there but pushed through and stayed for several hours. Lots of music and so many people.

Phoenix - New Years Eve

• Hired ATV/UTVs to explore desert. Decision to book all made very quickly. Very nervous on the drive out to the desert. Safety briefing for ATV’s was very overwhelming so switched to an ATV instead. Good fun, once relaxed. Had a go at driving the UTV, even though have never driven before - all was fine. Decided to have a go on ATV on own and all was fine. Super proud! Continued to face fears and pushed through to do something really out of comfort zone!
• Ate lunch in a local restaurant - animal heads all over the walls.
• NBA game (Phoenix vs Memphis), seats weren’t in back row - had people sitting behind us and it was noisy but all was ok.
• After the game, hung around the service exit to see the players leaving the stadium. Wanted to just return to the hotel room but it was ok. Nothing happened and we saw some players cars ad they left.
• Its New Years Eve so went outside at midnight to let off our bangers. There were others outside letting off illegal fireworks. Initially didn’t want to stay there, but pushed through and all was ok.
• Went for a midnight walk down the street. Hired scooters to have a mess around on. \240No-one was injured and it was good fun.

Phoenix to Grand Canyon - via Flagstaff

• Walked around Flagstaff town.
• Drove around Bearzonia - had to have all car windows up to drive through bears and wolves section. All was ok.
• Checked into hotel but really don’t like all the animal heads in foyer.
• Sleeping in bed next to window and also on the side closest to window - worried about this but did it anyway.

Grand Canyon

• Nervous about watching sunrise. Nervous about standing out on the rock \240point. Cooper messing around tickling people making things more nervous. Retreated back to the land area for a while, but pushed through and managed to come back out with rest of family on the point.
• Worried about walking along the rim trail but did it anyway.
• The thought of a helicopter flight was too much, but attended an iMax movie instead. Staff member recommended sitting in middle of theatre for best view. Decided to follow his advice and sit in the middle, even though wanted to sit in the back row. Initially no one sitting behind us, but by time movie started there were people directly behind us. \240 Everything was ok.
• Walked down into the canyon for a while. Track was narrow, crowded, very steep and very slippery. Also had to deal with mules on the path. Pushed through and did it anyway. Everything was ok.
• Caught crowded bus (standing room only) to and from trailheads - twice!
• Watched sunset even though didn’t \240want to. Worried about walking back to car from the sunset spot in the dark afterwards but it was ok.
• Crowded pizza restaurant, but found a table and ate there anyway.
• Walked home from dinner - on own, \240in the dark, in an unfamiliar town. Everything was ok.

Grand Canyon to Las Vegas - Route 66

• Ate at Roadkill Cafe even though worried that they may serve real road kill. Had to sit in middle of restaurant with people on either side of us.
• Crowded walkway and bridge to view Hoover Dam.
• Very nervous about going to Las Vegas.

Las Vegas

• Very crowded breakfast buffet.
• Walking around in Vegas was very intense, very crowded, lots of bright lights and loud music everywhere we went.
• Horseshoe Casino - Wandering around casino lost, \240trying to find Human Body Exhibition. Finally found it only to discover it wasn’t open yet. \240Very hard to find way back out to street.
• Flamingo Casino - Same thing…loud and lots of lights. Wandering around with no idea how to find what we are looking for and then the way out.
• Caesers Palace - Same thing again, but as thrr we day goes on it’s starting to get even more crowded - particularly when using bridges across roads.
• Horseshoe Casino again & Body Exhibition Entry - very confronting. All becoming too much and want to go back to Melbourne.
• Mini Golf with Timbo - fun and relaxing.
• Dave’s Chicken Restaurant - very, very busy but worth it for the giant tenderloins.
• College Basketball Game - we weren’t seated in back row and there were people sitting directly behind us. Brass band very loud!
• After leaving basketball gabe it was dark - everything way more intense, thank earlier in the day. All the neon signs now lit up.
• Back to Horseshoe Casino and through crowds to find Tim’s missing sunglasses.
• Went to Caesers Palace again - to try and get cards for Cooper. Very busy here now. Totally over it all!
• Bellagio Casino - Very busy and crowded inside. Lots of people on footpath to watch fountain display and lots of loud music and people trying to sell things. Getting very, very full on and overwhelming!
• Massive crowds of people trying to cross road. Just want to go home but pushing through so that we can all stay together as a family.
• Planet Hollywood to buy Cooper shoes but no luck. Need to eat so we can go back to hotel. Can’t wait to get out of here.
• Taco Bells - cannot stay here! Pumping music, crowds of people, the thought of this food and eating here is too much!
• Pushed through and found McDonalds which was a lot quieter. Ate and started to walk home.
• Couldn’t figure out how to get across the freeway, so had to get another Uber.
• Finally back to hotel room!

Las Vegas to San Francisco

• Pilot said flight would be bumpy but it wasn’t.
• Just want to get to our San Francisco accommodation so can relax and stay home - been a really busy week and intense day yesterday. Need a break.
• Don’t like the San Francisco accommodation. The house is very old and has too many rules.
• Fish and chips at a dingy looking shipping container. Sat at table with back to the street. Nervous but it was all ok.
• Walked around Pier 39 (shops, buskers and carnivals stuff) - crazy busy, people everywhere, loud and full on, but got through it.
• Watched movie “The Hangover” with family. It was funny and we had a good time laughing about Vegas.
• Caught 3 Ubers today - getting more used to it.

San Francisco

• Escape Room - good fun, but got a couple of big frights when someone dropped something on the floor. Coped incredibly well with darkish room and finished solving the puzzles. Had a huge jump scare when Cooper came back through the tunnel and out of the fire place unexpectedly. Initially panicked for 10-15 secs and then calmed self down and returned to solving puzzles. Such incredible progress!
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - didn’t want to go, \240but it was ok. Not too many people there. Some of the things were interesting.
• Walking from museum to home via the supermarket, in the dark, on unfamiliar streets. A bit intense on the streets, supermarket was very busy but it was all fine.
• Watched “The Hangover 2” with family. Never seen it before - a bit intense at times but mostly funny. It was all fine and watched the whole movie without leaving the room.

San Francisco - Bike Riding

• Very nervous about going bike riding. Worried about getting hurt.
• Did it anyway and had a good time. Didn’t fall off or injure self. Didn’t get lost.
• Riding and stopping on the Golden Gate Bridge was hard as there was a lot of car noise and the entire bridge was vibrating and shaking when buses went past. Pushed through and kept going and all was ok.
• Caught ferry back to San Francisco - \240sat in the middle of the boat.

San Francisco

Day at home - unwell.

San Francisco

• Feeling unwell, so most of day at home.
• Watched Cooper and Timbo play basketball against the local guys.
• Went to Cable Car Museum even though didn’t want to. Walked around on own and away from rest of the family.
• College Basketball Game - San Francisco vs Portland. Seats were two rows from court - most of the rest of stadium were sitting directly behind us. Very loud but coped really well.

San Francico to San Jose

• Rode really crappy bikes around Googleplex even though was worried about falling off / getting injured.
• Lunch in cafe with people riding by behind us.
• Wandered around huge shopping centre for hours so Cooper could buy clothes.
• Checked into hotel in a mad rush, dashed out for quick Dinner before Ice Hockey. Needed some downtime but hadn’t been able to have any all day. Things getting a bit too much but pushed through.
• Very nervous about Ice Hockey - the crowds, another stadium and the roughness of the game causing bad dreams. Had seats couple of rows from front with lots of people behind us but pushed through anyway - very loud, big crowd and very rough game but all was ok.

San Jose to Monterey, via Santa Cruz

• Worst breakfast ever at hotel, followed by the worst shower ever. Felt like having thousands of needles blasted at you.
• Heard about the fires in LA. Worried that we would be going back there soon.
• Loved watching the waves crash over the rocks at Santa Cruz. Wanted to stay longer as it was so relaxing and mesmerising but we had to keep moving.
• Went to Cafe for lunch and had to hold the table for the family while everyone messed around in bathrooms. Heaps of people asking for the table. Very nervous having to deal with it on own but managed to push through.
• Timbo and Kath getting very cranky with each other while trying to sort out lunch. Discovered that this was because they were trying to work out the best thing to do about the fires in LA being right where we planned to drive and stay the next night. Arguing about if we should be driving through there between the various fires or risk getting isolated on the coast, or if we should drive back to San Francisco and pay to fly to LA instead. We discussed it as a family and decided to fly and avoid the roads, smoke and unpredictable nature of it all. \240Very stressful and overwhelming time, but we worked through it together and decided to reduce everyone’s stress, stay safe, miss the last day of our road trip, stay another night in Monterey and then drive back to San Francisco and get an extra flight from there.
• Went for walk on pier at Capitola during sunset, without being worried about safety, falling or being pushed off.
• Ate dinnner at restaurant.

Monterey - Carmel-by-the-Sea and Big Sur

• Supermarket didn’t have any ready to go wraps/sandwhiches with good fillings. All was ok because we discovered they also made to order.
• Stopped at picturesq beach/cliffs at Big Sur to go for walk and take photos. Timbo took us walking around a cliff corner at the same time as a freak wave came in. Timbo, Coop and Michael made it through and around the corner but Kath got caught. Fortunately, only got soaked up to her knees. The waves receded and apart from being wet, stressed and grumpy everyone was ok.
• Brought our own lunch and cooler bag to the Big Sur seats in the river, even though you were only supposed to have food purchased from thier shops. Timbo bought a hot dog so we couldn’t get in trouble for it. All was fine, but even if they told us off the worst thing would be that we just leave.
• Caught some Asian people breaking and strealing giant mushroom things from the protected Redwood Tree National Park at Pfieffer Beach. Timbo confronted them and told them they were not allowed to do that. They pretended they didn’t know and then when we drove off they took them anyway. We returned and Cooper told them again that they couldnt do that, grabbed the mushrooms and threw them into the river. It was stressful as we didn’t know how they would react and if they’d get angry, but they were ok and just left quietly and went back to thier car.
• Ate dinner at restaurant. Getting pretty used to this now,
• Very nervous about the fires in LA and needing to fly via LA airport tomorrow. Discussed that this is why we paid for an extra flight instead of needing to drive through the fire effected areas. We will only be in LA for a few hours and we \240will just be at the airport while we change flights.

San Francisco to \240Melbourne

• Nervous about two flights and needing to go through LA (where all the fires are) to get home.
• Stressed about making it through security and to the departure gate on time for our first flight. Everything was fine - we had planned how long the drive, dropping off the car, catching the monorail and checking-in would take and we had 30 minutes to spare.
• Got the special treatment going through airport security again at San Francisco.
• Happy to sit at Qantas Club in the middle of the room with people coming and going behind us all the time.
• Went off on own to request towels etc and have a shower at the Qantas Club.
• Chatting to air hostess about basketball and holidays on flight home.