US And Canada Trip

My inlaws were right. Niagara or Horsehoe Falls in the Canadaian side is truly majestic and awesome, especially at night. I was just a bit disappointed my Pentax digital camera which was supposed to have night vision did not rise to the occasion. Anyway, if you're near the area-we visited my relatives in chicago,Illinois and thought the trip to Niagara would be alright. In the North American map, it looks like the falls is near Chiago so we went for it...

My cousin who went with me and my 2 boys booked us on a flight from Chicago O'Hare to Buffalo, New York, which would be near the Canadian side of the Falls.

True enough we were able to see the Falls from both sides and from the New York side, it wasn't very interesting at all! Once in Niagara, Ontario, there are lots of things to see and do. However, since we only have really 3 days to look around and visit my cousin in Pickering, nearLake Toronto (more than an hour's drive from downtown Toronto), we didn't get to see the theme parks or aquarium, zoo, etc. After all we've had our fill of theme parks in California. My main goal was to have pics taken of Niagara and of us there as well LOL!

We also had a nice dinner at the Table Rock Restaurant, overlooking the falls and it was a magical meal for us. The steak wasn't as good as our very own Australian steak but the staff was freindly enough! Don't eat at the GURU- you will be sorry- not just the taste which wasn't so bad but the serive and the portions of the food are not complimentary to the prices...plus you have to check your bill as our bill was inadvertently swapped fro another table's order which was higher! Oh dear! Be very careful!

CN Tower was all hype for me-too expensive- $77 for 2 adults and 2 kids plus I paid around 25 for the photos from the tower-you can't miss having a pic taken bec. they take your photo the moment you're in! Good souvenir anyway! My expensive 15 minutes at the CN Tower (554 meters high). Downtown Toronto was chaotic as Sportmad Canadians swarm the place to watch the hockey or the baseball-both playing at sports stadiums in this city...lots of hotdog and ice cream stands- my cousin didn't let us buy any, shame, shame...not safe? I don't think so...
She's just protective of us...

Going first to San diego Zo was a good move- it was pleasant as we rode a double decker bus tour wich had a guide giving us a brief but descriptive tour of the zoo-very lovely areas for animals and lots of animals I haven't heard before...

Went to Legoland which was a ripoff at around 200 US Dollars for 4 of us (2 adults and 2 kids0 -we arrived around 3 p.m. and it closed at 6 p.m. and was stil lcahrged the full price. My kids were happy but my husband and I just grinned and bore it so to speak.

Disneyland is so "gay" and the kids enjoyed themselves, so did hubby and me...We got lost on the way back to our hotel as the trams taking guests back from DL had 2 routes. As usual, hubby thought I was wrong so we ended up wasting a lot of time going back to the hotel.

BIG TIP: remember which end you went to DL- car park side or hotels' side...Disney District which is free is on the side near the huge carpark where people leave their cars to go to DL or CAlif. Adventure PArk. We only paid for Dl as we didn't have enough time to look around LA.

So next day we took a bus tour to Universal Studios. Good move! Lots of things to see and do there- Don't miss the backlot stage tour as this is awesome and fantastic! Plus, you just sit back in the tram and the guide will take you everywhere and you can experience how Hollywood movies are made...truly recommended! Plus pay for an eat all you can all day deal which was good value. We could only eat at the 2 restaurants, missing one which served Italian food, oh well...

Next day, after checking in at our Hacienda Hotel room near The airport in El Segundo, we were picked up for our tour of downtown La and hollywood- also recommende if You DON'T want to experience the horrors of driving in LA. Very nice tour! We also went dwon to explore briefly Venice Beach -where many stars of today first showed off their skills, did a bit of shopping for Converse shoes for my son and also had fun at the Walk of Fame(saw names of Bruce Lee and Godzilla,etc) and Farmers' Market. Overall a truly touristy endeavour worth doing...

Dave took more photos of the Hollywood sign atop the HW hills too.

MORE TIPS: You can book tours through your hotels-we didn't do them beforehand as you never know if your flights/schedules will be on time. Lots of options when you're there.

Our United Airlines flight from Sydney to LA left on time and we arrived on time as well. The excitement to see LA came to a bit of a disappointment when, after taking a cab to the train station, all we could we could see along the way were graffiti filled walls and rundown establishments. Not a very nice site of LA.

However, the people are quite friendly from the staff at United to the airport people. We were single d to go throught the Courtesy Crew Immigration counter when an officer found out we're Australian citizens. So, even if we were way far from our fellow travellers in the plane, we still ened up ahead of them upon reaching the Baggage Claim area.

The cabs were easily available so we took one and I remembered that tipping is essential so we first exchanged a ouple of our travellers' cheques. itwas the first time we were using them. We got charged US$5 fee. Oh well, we used to use just credit cards...We got to the TRAIN STATION Which was in a very nice ld building- the problem started when we had to get our luggages in to be checked in for our trip to San Diego.

Anyway, after finding out we can make it to the 12:30 p.m. trip, we had to rush to board the train. At that point,. we were starving...Dave was cranky as he had to carry most of the luggages(5 of them) I helped with a lugage with wheels plus my 2 hand carries.

The lesson: Dave and i always talked about travelling light but on thel ast minute going away, I had to add more due to the cold weather
we were expecting.

It was lucky for us I guess in way becasue it wsn't so cold in LA.

It was a bit nippy in San Diego though. I really love San Diego and areas surrounding it. Lots of nice beaches along ther train ride so I recommend this way of travelling to San Diego and southern California. The rain carriages were clean and we had one with a snack carriage but
we lost our appetite so we starved ourselves.

San Juan capistrano was a truly charming place and other beaches nearby.

Sante Fe station had its charm too- the old station building, the small but useful kiosk with cheap frdge magnets and other souvenirs.
There were trolley cars to explore downntown San Diego. WE just ended up driving to the sights there as we were exhuasted after 13 hours plane ride and around 3 hours train trip.

My cousin Kuya Ver picked up up. He and his wife's family own abakery and restaurant in NAtional City, just about 10 minutes from Sante Fe Station.

We went to San Diego Zoo, Legoland and some areas in downtown San diego. We love San Diego for it s cosmopolitan feel and clean, relaxed way of life. My cousin's home in Temecula was about an hour's drive away from San Diego. It is ony accessible by car though which was a shame. I had my reunion with relatives from other parts of Californis-El Monte and Simi Valley. They all came and we had fun eating nice food prepared by Kuya ver and Ate Tess, his wife who made
sure we had a nice stay in California. Souther nCalifornia is really
a beautiful place to be.