I can't do this... I need a drink if we are going to do this!!!

Ok so after a helicopter and four hours of Vegas outlet shopping, our feet and our wallets are tired. 

After resting up, we head out to the World of M&Ms. Four floors of chocolate and chocolate accessories. Oh yes. Four floors. Surprisingly, we didn't buy anything because it was quite expensive for chocolate. I did see raspberry filled M&Ms, Peanut Butter M&Ms, Pretzel M&Ms... i can keep going. There were so many different kinds of M&Ms. 

We walked for a little more and then stumbled upon, terror. Well for me, terror. For the boyfriend, sheer delight. The Goretorium. So I should explain what the Goretorium is exactly. It is the brainchild of horror writer/director, Eli Roth, and is a self-guided horror walk where everything starts in lobby, where you sit in a chair and get slightly shocked from electricity, while two women dressed in horror gear, smiling beside you. 

They have actors throughout the walk who depict all characters from different horror movies, including men with chain saws, butcher knives, zombies, the dude from Addams family, along with special effects and all things that are aimed at scaring the bejesus out of you. The walk included a zombie wedding and a wedding party where the table had maggots on it, while someone was eating their stomach. I was so scared. 

I clawed at the boyfriend's arms, neck, anything I could latch on to, while screaming like a hyena. It was f**king scary. There is no easy way to say it. It scared the crap out of me. So much so that my top was so wet that I scared myself that much. 

After we eventually got out of the walk, I begged for a drink to calm me down, while one of our newly met friends, ran to bathroom. 

I was so terrified that I ended up sculling my beer to calm my heart down. It was thundering away. I have never been so scared in my life. And when I turned to my boyfriend, he was smiling away, cool as a cucumber. Nothing. He was calm. Not scared. Not screaming. Not seeing black dots, or clutching at his chest. Just smiling away like it was nothing. He did enjoy himself, I'll say that. I enjoyed it on a different level... after it was finished. That was the best part. :-) 

I do have to say that the horror walk was done very well and it did its job. 

If it's job was to make me nearly wet myself, then a job well done. 

Over and out

Today we booked ourselves a helicopter ride through the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam... it was

Wait for it...

LEGENDARY!

I cannot describe how cool it was. This feeling only came after we took off. In the lead up to the flight, I was nervous and clinging to my boyfriend and pretending all is well, while trying to keep my breakfast down. I was little nervous to say the least. So after going through the safety features of the helicopter, we buckle up and wait for take off, only for warning lights to light up and everything stopped. At this point, my nerves were still at a high. We were told that the warning lights were a minor issue but to be safe we would jump into another helicopter.




After going through the checks again, we were off and floating through the air. It was pretty cool. I had a head set and everything. The pilot even had Top Gun music playing in the background as we took off. Lame but I bought it! We saw the red valleys, Hoover Dam, and the main course, Grand Canyon!

                                               

It was just stunning! We went at midday so it was nice and warm, and sun was out. We also got a ride over the Vegas strip. Just perfect. I loved. It was the highlight for me. I really loved the trip through the Canyon and red mountains. 

After our helicopter ride, we head to my mecca. Outlets. Outlets. Outlets. Vegas outlets too. Only the best. I was so pumped and excited, that all I could do was take it all in. I managed to nab some good bargains but not as many as my boyfriend, who did not spend that much and bought up big. He had more bags than I did. That's cool man. Just not cool. LOL. We had Tommy Hilfiger  DKNY, Levis, Calvin Klein, it keeps going.  I also nabbed some Sketchers, a Betty Page jacket,  and jewellery. Not too shabby. 

                          

Viva Las Vegas

So after nearly four hours at the airport, we arrive in Las Vegas... it was as bright as a Christmas tree.

I sat glued to the air plane window seat. And I wasn't even sitting in that seat.

After getting through American customs and waiting for a while for our bags to be thrown out, we head to our hotel, New York New York, all ready to take on Vegas. Instead, my inner bitch came out after we found out that we were stuck in a smoking room, on a smoking floor, despite booking a non smoking room/floor.

I thought I could suck it up but alas I made my way down to the reception desk and gave them a piece of mind before finishing with... there are legal issues with sticking someone in a smoking room and having trouble breathing... yeah i kind of lost my shit but I was having trouble breathing. It is absolutely disgusting to allow someone to smoke in a room. How bad is your addiction that you can't go outside of the hotel. Horrid!

The next day we were moved to another room, happily a non smoking room, and we set out to check out Vegas, baby. The hotel itself was pretty cool. It was decked out in all things New York, including a Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building, apartments, Irish pub and New Yorkers. It was quite authentic.




The whole strip was themed

Monte Carlo  Paris


Belliago   Rome

There were many more!!!

After hours of walking, and I mean hours of walking, we went to our first Las Vegas show; Circus de Soleli. We saw Zumanity, which is a sensual, seductive show which is for adults only. It was quite sexy. It was dubbed a show about the pleasures of the flesh. :-)

All the performers were dressed in gorgeous lingere and the men were wearing six packs. ;-) I promise I wasn't looking and didn't scream like a woman watching Manpower.

Scouts honour... i was never a scout.

Hollywood!!!

We decided to grab one of those day tours through Los Angeles which ticked all the boxes of places I wanted to see in LA... well everything I had googled before left Australia.

Chinese Theatre
Walk of Stars
Rodeo Drive
Beverly Hills
Sunset Strip
Hollywood stars' houses
Santa Monica
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Venice Beach
Muscle Beach
Union Station, etc, etc, etc

So I checked out the Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood stars:

               

 Someone was getting their star unveiled while we were there but I didn't know who it was. Apparently they were in quite a number of recent movies and still I had no idea.

Then we checked out my favourites:

Ripley's Believe it or not              Rodeo Drive
 Santa Monica                Walt Disney Concert Hall


We did check out Hollywood Stars' homes but I'm not a fan. I don't really care who they are and where they live. Plus its a bit a intrusion to be sitting outside someone's house and taking photographs. Suffice to say, I looked and checked it out but meh. Bit boring. I couldn't care less where Johnny Depp or Jennifer Aniston lives. I assume its vice versa too.

We also checked out Venice Beach and Muscle Beach but it was raining so I didnt see Arnold Schwarzengger working out but there was a lot of pot dealing shops and dodgy people walking about. Each to their own. :-)

That's how we finished our time in Los Angeles. A whole day snapping away with the camera and oohing and ahhing at all things Hollywood. Not too shabby.

DISNEY, DISNEY, DISNEY, DISNEY

The happiest place on earth!!!


Disneyland California Adventure has all the rides like Califonia Screamin', Hollywood Tower of Terror, Grizzly River Run, a Mickey ferris wheel, Golden Zephyr, Luigi's Flying Tyres, lots of 3D movies, and the best ride, Cars.

It was cold and the first thing we decided to go on was a ride where you get wet, Grizzly River Run. Its a flotation device where you sit there, being thrown about and get completely wet. Awesome!! We looked like drown cats. Completely wet. His jeans, my hair, which by the way, had been done nicely that day and was not sticky to my face. Hot!

Next it was a Mickey Mouse ferris wheel which was no normal ferris wheel. The cages actually moved from side to side, and at one point, looked like it was tip into the water. I was scared. Again, I screamed like a little girl. I wasn't the only one. ;-)

The best ride, Cars. We lined up for two and half hours for that ride. We kept moving slowly towards the front of the line... ever so slowly. By half way, I was starting to get cabin fever so i was silenced with Candy Floss. Delightful. Sugar, sugar, and more sugar. It was worth it though. Two and half hours later, I was sitting in the car, racing another car alongside us and it was AWESOME!!!

A whole day at Disneyland ... just perfect. We were just big kids. I love that.

La La Land for me

So we arrived in Los Angeles on day one of our American adventures and I am glued to the air plane window.

I can see Los Angeles. All of it. IT IS HUGE!!!

We arrive three hours after our original arrival time after flying with the Qantas A380, which by the way, is friggin huge and I loved it. Anyway, once we arrive, we drop our bags at the hotel in North Hollywood and make use of the free shuttle bus between the hotel and Universal Studios, which is five minutes away. Not too shabby.

At the Studios, we find a whole mini shopping precinct with pubs, restaurants, and shopping. I am so happy. The City Walk was dressed in all things Christmas with Christmas playing in the background... it was gorgeous (however after eight days, I was so sick of Christmas music, I could have screamed at another song about a white Christmas).

City Walk had Sketchers, a Belgian pub, Ben and Jerry's... I can go but we so buggered from the 13 hour flight, that we had a nice American burger and a home brewed beer that we dropped like flies once we got back to the hotel.

The next day, Universal Studios baby!! We had front line passes so there was no lining up for us! The Studios were fantastic. There was the Mummy ride, Transformers 3D, Simpsons 3D etc.. there was the back lots where they do filming for movies and television shows. Awesome. We saw where they made Jaws,  War of Worlds, every New York television show with a NY back drop, and they were even filming the show, Parenthood, while we were there. And no I didn't get on the show as an extra. Although I would have tried, despite the fact, the show sucks.

We checked out this House of Horrors ride, where I proceeded to de-mask myself of my tough exterior and scream like a little girl, much to the boyfriend's amusement.

There was one actor dressed as Chucky welding a knife and he just sat there staring. He didn't move. So after a few seconds I decided all was well until he came out of the picture, throwing around his plastic knife, inches from my face... and of course I screamed like a hyena, threw my body back into the boy and pushed everyone down the line.

All I could hear in my hysteria was his laughter along with everyone else in the room. Hmmmmm.

I hate scary rides. I hate them.

The other highlight of that day was that we got tickets to see Jay Leno. Whoop whoop!!! We managed to get front row at a taping of his late show, which had Marisa Tomei, Carlson Daly and Il Vivo (some teen bop group that sang opera music with incredibly tight pants and over product hair). The boyfriend enjoyed Marisa Tomei... a little too much for my liking. ;-)