No Calories, No Worries!

My third day in L.A. was perfect! Jason took me around pretty much anywhere I wanted to see AND I got to go to IHOP! :D jason told me from the get-go not to look at the calories that day, it's all good! and i totally followed orders ;) american ihop is the best, that's all i can say. the cinnabon pancakes were scrumptious as were the hashbrowns and scrambled eggs; i don't think i've ever enjoyed an IHOP meal so much! and the service was pretty darn good...kind of made me assess the whole "rude americans" rep.

After a yummy brekkie, we went to the Queen Mary ship--which honestly, I just thought it was some historic old boat that was a tourist hot-spot to take pictures in front of...at least that's what my mom told me. NOPE! Jason went and bought tickets and I'm wondering why we need tickets to take pictures, then we walked around inside the boat and I realized how cool the Queen Mary really is! The exhibits they had of what the boat was like back in the day were pretty cool and there was a big model of the Titanic and other Titanic-like ships--again this may make me seem nerdy, but it was pretty damn fascinating.

Time came for the tour and it still didn't dawn on me why the tour was called the ghosts and demons tour...till the tour guide started. It was a pretty fun and animated tour and I have to say, I was very entertained and at one time I did scream...a lot. It started off with us watching a movie about the history of the boat (rife with deaths of some passengers), then we went into the old swimming pool area and I swear to god i saw the "lady in white" aka the resident ghost. IT WAS SO FREAKY! My eyes were not playing tricks on me cuz I saw her for a whole five seconds...freakyyyy. Then we went into the a room i can't remember (obviously cuz it wasn't scary!) and then we went down this hallway--however, before we could enter it, the tour guide said "I hope no one is afraid of spiders" ...I pretty much started crying like the poor 4 yr old in our group who was scared out of his mind. I was like I don't want to go there I don't want to go there! ...and of course Jason convinced me to do it and then it happened. Something that felt like spiders was touching my head, going through my hair and uggghhhhh! I freaked out--i started screaming, batting away the "spiders" --pretty much I acted like any girl would who was in a pitch black hallway w/gigantic spiders. Fun times but one of the most memorable moments of the trip! Then we went to the boiler room and learned of this guy that got stuck in this weird box thing and got steamed to death (that puts it lightly)...and then the ship's bow started "leaking" water and we had to evacuate thus ending the tour. awesome tour, i'll probably do it again if i get the chance.

After that we spent some time walking around the boat in the gorgeous sunshine, soaking in the views :) It was a nice chill time. Afterwards, we headed back to my couch-surfing home; my cousin (jason's mom) said we could go and sight-see more and we'd leave for san francisco later on in the night. obviously i was excited cuz another one of my wishes came true--hollywood! Jason drove us through the crazy, narrow, road to the top of this hill where Yamashiro sits. It's the most romantic spot in hollywood or perhaps L.A. AND it's haunted. I know I know, there seems to be a weird theme lol. I got a tour of Yamashiro and the restaurant area is gorgeous and totally the type of place i'd dine...if i wanted to spend 15 on a california roll. please. :P

I also got to see other creepy places, like where the old owner of the restaurant is buried...right next to a table! and I went in the bride room and groom room and the bride room was super cold and the AC wasn't on...yes, i'm sure a spirit was there too. Once the tour of the cool area around the restaurant was over, we went to the hollywood walk of fame!

The hollywood walk of fame was super fun and obviously i turned into this crazy excited tourist who took pictures of EVERYTHING! lol. We went into this mall which was pretty cool; it had some retro restaurants and tons of cool shops AND this cute fountain thing where all these mexican kids were playing. I fell in love w/this chubby 2 yr old who was soooo cute <3 he kept looking at the ground waiting for the water to come out and then when it would he'd get sprayed in his face and make this confused look then start jumping and running. so cute! this mall also had a partial movie set in it--egyptian stuff which looked pretty damn cool. After that we went across the street to a disappointing disney store then made the lovely uphill trek back to Yamashiro--cuz that's where we parked. I thought that after that our trip was over but nope!

Sweet old jason took me to Santa Monica where we got to roam around at the 3rd street promenade. I loved it! I missed that type of scene; lots of those in Australia. There so many shops, cool garden-type statues (dinosaurs!) and random dance classes in the street-mostly salsa. And the piece de resistance--COTTON ON! I saw it and screamed and got really excited and ...ya...cotton on! I fell in love w/that store in New Zealand & Australia--seeing cotton on again made me feel closer to my second home lol.

Oh! I also saw a giant smurf. yes. gigantic. and cute.

After all this sightseeing we got hungry, so we decided to head home and eat. I am pretty lucky to have had such a great tour guide; he took me for thai food. the best thai food i've had yet! every thing was so yummy :) and the owners of the place were nice enough to let us stay until after closing.

Throughout this day, Jason made me laugh a lot, gave me good advice and we basically got to reconnect after not seeing each other for a few years. I remember how we were when we were younger--i was super excited there were kids in my family cuz my brother and I are the youngest kids on my dad's side of the family--till we met Jason and Josie who came from Cali :) but he was shy and no matter how much i tried, that kid wouldn't talk to me. the second time he came he was a bit better and we watched nutty professor (where he laughed like crazy!), i made him one of those paper fortune teller things (i still remember how excited he was when i gave it to him) and tons of stuff. we've always kept in touch w/each other through facebook or emails but this trip reminded me i gotta make the time and effort to see people who are important to me. If not to make new memories, then at least to reconnect and remember our good times.

With that said, I was pretty sad when our day was over--I couldn't believe I had to leave for San Fran and not know when exactly I'd see him again; unsure if I would see him before his deployment in Florida...but all good things gotta come to an end to ensure that new, even better things can happen for you.

And that's where I leave you folks--till the next installment of my stay in San Fran and my trip to the Jelly Belly Factory :P