Last Leg of my trip!

I am having such a great time in the States, which I'm so surprised about as everyone seemed to say I would want to leave LA as soon as I can, but actually I really like it!
Its been non stop since arriving here, I have a big checklist of things to do and feel like I really need another holiday after all this madness!

So I arrived in LA to see my friend Emma who I met in the Cook Islands, we planned my last 10 days or so together to fit in what we could!
Emma arrived a couple of days before me and made a friend Claire who wanted to join us on our trip to San Diego.
I opened the door to Claire and you are not going to believe this, but I knew her from when I was in 1770 in Oz!!!
It was great and we couldnt get over the coincendence, it was so funny as it was months ago when we were both there! I knew from there on in we would have a blast!

The first afternoon was spent in Hollywood, walking down the wall of fame and I actually got down onto the pavement and kissed Tom Cruises star! The girls thought it was hilarious!
Then onto Kodak theatre and finally the Chinese Mann Theatre, we watched Harry Potter in the theatre in the evening, I wondered which famous celeb would have last sat in my chair!

Next day was full on at Universal Studios, there was a group of us from the hostel who all stuck together and it was a good day, but very tiring! In the evening we visted a nice area called
The Grove for drinks and a meal.

Then we headed to San Diego the next day! We hired a car and Emma and I agreed to share the driving, it was really scary at first, I have never driven an automatic never mind the wrong side of the road, but soon got the hang of it!
We spent the day at Sea World, main attraction being Shamu the Killer Whale, aswell as the usual suspects, dolphins, seals etc
Stayed in the Downtown area and it was a buzzing atmosphere at night, wished we had another night there as it seemed a lively city!

Next day it was an early start again, we crossed the border of Mexico, just because we could, unfortunately they dont stamp your passport but it was good fun to do!
It wasnt the real feel of Mexico, mainly souvenir shops and cheap pharmacies for the drugs!
Lots of men were leering at us and shouting at us, bit unnerving and we named ourselves the Three Amigos and we were glad we were together and safe!!!

Emma & I then headed to the bright lights of Vegas!! (Claire went back to LA)
It was a long drive throught desert like terrain, but felt so good to be free and independant rather than on a long bus journey.

We stayed at a posh hotel on the Strip, The Monte Carlo!!! Its unbelievable really as they sell the rooms half price mid week, so it cost us 20 quid a night, we were like big kids when we saw the hotel, valet parking and finally the room.....2 queen size beds and marble bathroom and free shampoo etc!! It felt so luxurious after a year of backpacking!

We had 3 nights in Vegas and saw most of the main hotels, I love this place too! It seemed so tacky at first but its such a fun place to be!
Highlights were a Gondola Ride in the Venetian Hotel, Rollercoaster on the outside of the New York Hotel, Bellagio Fountains, and a nice meal at the Paris Las Vegas.
We also did a small amount of gambling...just cos you have to!
We won 90$ on the Roulette table, lucky 10 on the red....so took the money and ran to the cocktail bar to spend it!!! ha ha!

The last day was a flight over the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam & Mead River and then last minute running around the Strip to see what we had missed!

Back to LA the next day and we stopped off at Rodeo Drive, we had a nice lunch outside and was looking for celebs, as we started to window shop, we noticed there was a bodyguard outside Chanel and a couple of mean looking jeeps with blacked out windows were parked....we soon realised someone must be inside, so we hung around away from the crowd and sat waiting!.............Arnold Schwarzenegger strolled outside and nodded in our direction, we were both completely stunned and then realised neither of us had took a photo! doh!
So we got to the side of the car and was totally uncool and started snapping photos of him behind the glass!
He didnt quite look like the terminator, he seemed older with bad ginger colour hair!! We were completely star struck though!

We then carried on shopping and then collected the car....another valet parking lot!!! Oh I could so get used to this luxury lifestyle!!!

Next stop is San Francisco for 3 days.......................Alcatraz here I come!!