Emma

School Holidays

The few weeks of school holidays were really eventful for me as i had alot of activities going on. I had to balance all my time between the massive tons of school homework and trainings. But i broke away from my hectic schedule by going on a holiday to US :) i was reallyy excited for the trip as my sis and i had planned for this trip since the start of the year! It was my third time going there and we really enojoyed the previous trips but it was all made when i was really young and i didnt really appreaciate all the wonderful and scenic places when i was younger as i only cared about having fun in the theme parks, thus we decided to go there again as i was much older to enjoy and appreciate the scenery!!!


The flight was really long spanning a total of 20+ hours. But i was really active during the flight and watched countless of blockbuster movies 

the really spacious window seat

Day 1 LA,California

After settling down into out hotel, we were really tired and we had jetlag :( so we mostly spent the time resting in the hotel and ordered pizza takeaway! The servings there were really big 

the really big pizza

Day 2 Universal Studious

It was only the second day where we went to the theme parks! We rented a car and we drove off to universal studious hollywood first! We had a great time going there as they had many rides that wasnt available at Singapore's one! The roller coasters were really extreme and my dad and i had to drag my sis and mom along to ride it. My mom had a fear of heights and my sis was terrified of roller coasters so my dad and i took the extreme rides most of the time while my sis and mom just went for those mild ones. But overall we took many rides together as a family and it was really fun! 

Universal Studios

we had fastpass tickets that allowed us to cut the queue and we went on the ride for three more times as it was really addicitve

The hollywood tower of terror was really scary but thrilling! It was an elevator it was based in the Twilight Zone and we had to ride an elevator to the top most level and from there we drop to our "deaths" it was really cool and the pictures taken were really epic

After the tiring day of events we went to have our dinner at Bubba Gump restaurant! It was a pretty theme restaruant based on the movie Forrest Gump!

Day 3 California Adventure Park

Day three was equally fun as we went to California Adventure Park. They also had many interesting rides but they were Disney themed making it even more unique. It had more rides since the last time i visited the theme park when i was 7 and 10. They had added an extra area called the "Cars land" based on the Pixar movie "Cars"

  

the new "cars" ride

queue at the ride

they had a really cool  roller coaster that did so many turns and drops! it also had a 360 degrees loop the loop. I was too scared to do it when i was younger and i had a great time trying it out then. It was so fun and that i went on it three times. It was so popular that the queue was like 30 mins long!

Day 4&5 Shopping
We had another great time at the theme parks and we spent the next couple days going on a shopping spree at the few popular shopping malls and ended up with many handful of goods! We had breakfast at "IHOP" international house of pancakes! It was awesome as they served different types of pancakes with a variety of choices of toppings for the pancakes.

"IHOP' breakfast

Day 6 Mammoth Lake
On our itinerary we were going to travel to San Francisco in between the drive we stopped at many little towns. The first town was at Mammoth Lake. It was a little town that had ice capped mountains as the background. It was really pretty and we booked to stay in a hotel that overlooked the vast scenery. It was really cold and the temperature dropped to around to 3 degrees at night. Our hotel was surrounded by a large forest and the staff had warned us about wild bears roaming at night and it was really cool :)))

Day 7 Drive to Lake Tahoe
While driving off to another destination, we spotted an area which was covered with snow! We heard from the radio that it snowed overnight. It was my first time seeing snow and it was a great experience for me. We played with it but since it was really cold we only stayed out for awhile. We couldnt make a snowman as the snow had harderned overnight but we carved snowballs and had a snowball fight! We also layed on the ground and made snow angels. We couldnt take many pictures either as my phone could not withstand the freezing temperature and the camera couldnt be functioned. After about 20 minutes we all huddled in the car shivering with the heater blasting as we tried to warm ourselves.

Day 7/8,9,10 Lake Tahoe
We reached Lake Tahoe and rented an apartment that overlooked the Lake. The apartment had three levels and my sis and i slept in the attic! It was really fun as the ceiling was made of glass and we could look the night view as we slept. When we woke up a translucent material would then cover the blazing sun. During the stay it was my moms's birthday and we surprised her by making breakfast in bed for her and we celebrated it with a chocolate cake which we tried baking with the kitchen facilities! It wasnt really that presentable but it tasted good :)

the apartment

Day 10,11,12 San Francisco 
We finally reached San Francisco and we went to visit all the famous attractions and view the famous streets of San Francisco! It was famous for their many types of unique streets. They had arterial streets that bisects the western part of the city extending from the Golden Gate Park to the Golden Bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge was really huge and we took many pictures of itThey also had many commercial corridors where the houses and corridors were decorated with graffiti and pop art. We visited Hyde St. Pier too and they had a street filled with many seafood restaurants that served fresh seafood. While wallking along the streets and shops we saw a famous bakery "Boudin bakery" it was a sourdough factory that made mass production of bread treats and it was the bakery that founded the Clam Chowder. They had a glass panel that separated the workers with us that allowed us to see the production of the bread. It was really fun watching them add the ingredients and knead the dough. They also had a little cafe with many pastries etc.

streets of San Francisco

amazing art

Hyde St. Pier

Dinner

Golden Gate Bridge

Day 13 and 14
We went shopping again but this time it was at Macy's. It was a really big shopping mall and was famous for their variety of goods and great discounts. There was a really small skating rink outside Macy's and it was looked really fun! There was also this big Christmas tree that was decorated with many pretty ornaments.We took many pictures of it and it was really enjoyable. We also took the famous tram to many places including the union square and the chinatown. The food in chinatown was really good and there were many chinese people there. We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant near our hotel too! It was really good

Macy's shopping mall

The Christmas Tree

Chinatown

Dim Sum at chinatown

Union Square

Dinner

Day 15
It was our last day at San Fransisco and we all prepared to leave the beautiful city. We had a great time here and we spent most of the day lazing around in the hotel waiting for the check out time. The airport there was really huge and had so many shops. During the flight it was indeed as tiring as our flight here but we all could not wait to reach our home!

San Francisco airport

I had an enjoyable time in US and through everything we bonded even more as a family as we did everything together. I have also learnt to cherish my family members more! It was a getway from reality during this two weeks and a relaxation time for me from my busy life back in Singapore. I think it really helped calm my nerves and relax my mind. I am also very fortunate and grateful to my parents who funded our trip :)