Honeymooning on the West Coast! (Part IV)

27Nov'08: LV to Grand Canyon

Drive to Hoover Dam then to Grand Canyon

Grabbed our brunch at Macdonalds before our proper lunch at Al Tovar

As the Grand Canyon is covered totally by fog, we decided to check out the Grandeur of Grand Canyon at Imax.

Overnight at Best Western Grand Squire Inn

28 Nov'08: Grand Canyon to Dessert Hills Premium Outlets

We decided to check out Grand Canyon again...And Phew! Luckily the fog is not back!! We managed to stop at a few look-out point for photos before driving off to our Last shopping Stop!

Another 5 straight hours of non-stop shopping!

Overnight at Best Western Pasadena

29 Nov'08: LA
La Brea Tar Pits for its huge collection of fossils extracted from the tar pits.

Lunch at Musso and Frank

Some other sights:-

- Chinese Theatre, hollywood

-Getty Centre

Overnight at Hollywood Orchid Suites Hotel

30 Nov'08: LA

Checking out LA beaches front - Santa Monica , Venice...

Forest Gump bench outside Bubba Gump Shrimps restaurant:

Trying our best to imitate Tom Hank's signature look as Gump

Farmer's Market with Lunch at Gumbo Pot, followed by home-made ice-cream, coffee and donut for tea, and Dinner at Koi.

The most expensive parking during our Trip!

Overnight at Howard Johnson Anaheim

1st Dec'08: LA - Disney Land!!!
Truly magical experience, not bad for my 1st Disney experience!

Goofy !

Christmas Theme Mickey outside Adventure Land

Dinner at Denny's

Overnight at Howard Johnson Anaheim


2nd Dec'08: LA - Disney Adventure Land

Adrenlin rush, after taking the rides at Adventure Land, the rides at Disney is no longer thrilling for me. But the magic is still there. I love their fireworks and happy music blaring through their speakers throughout the whole magical kingdom.

Mickey in Adventure Land

Sharing our Turkey Leg lunch...

3rd Dec'09: LA- Universal Studio
Breakfast at Johnny Rockets before our visit to Uuniversal Studio Hollywood
Dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimps

Interesting theme park, but I still prefer Disney Land.

Drive to Slovang

Overnight at Kronberg Inn

4 th Dec'09: Solvang - San Simeon

Breakfast at Mortenson's ...

and a nice walk around the Dannish-looking streets.

The Most-photographed Inn at Solvang

Next, drive to San Simeon
(en-route) Lunch at Steamers
I love the clams! Super-duper delicious!

Piedra Blancas for the nice sunset...

... and elephant seals

Overnight at Sea Breeze Inn

5th Dec'08: San Simeon - Carmel

Morning visit to Hearst Castle

(remember to book your tickets online to avoid a wasted trip)

Takeaway Lunch - Hearst Ranch Beef burger

Point Lobos walk

Explore 17-mile Drive - Shepard's Knoll, Point Joe, Bird Rock, Lone Cypress, Fanshell overlook, Ghost Tree, Restless Sea

Pebble beach along 17 mile drive (Carmel by the sea)

Another beautiful sunset along 17 mile drive

Dinner at Rio Grill


Overnight at Highlands Inn - Sea View facing with real fireplace



6 Dec'08: Drive to Monterary Bay

Our long drive back to SF for our flight back along California One highway, en-route to Monterey Bay.


Some other sights not pictured here:-
Butterfly Grove

Lunch at Seawife (nice, reasonably priced, and very friendly owner)

Brave, Inquisitive squirrel checking us out for some snacks

as we check out the coastal views from

one of the look-out point along California One Highway.

I guess this is one of the main cause of squirrel pancake along the highway: A kind act, which cause tragedy to these cute, little things

Moon Jellyfish at Monterey Aquarium

Coastal view from Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

Sunset along California 1 highway

Half Moon Bay

A nice end to our honeymoon...

Honeymooning on the West Coast (Part III)

24th Nov'08: Camarillo premium outlet

Shopping!! So, no pics for today.. Only about 4hrs to shop..

Want to take some pictures of the wonderful outlet, but totally forgot about it when I started shopping.

At about 4pm, we started our drive to Death Valley.

Oh yah, did I mention that we totally skipped lunch? And my poor dew got to take Subway sandwich as he drive towards Death Valley

We nearly lost our way as we circled the area a few rounds before finding Furnace Creek Ranch, our acoomodation for the night!

25th Nov'08: Death Valley

In the morning, we drove past Painter's valley towards Badwater basin, the lowest elevation in North America at 85.5m below sea level. Amazing isn't it?

A few other sights to see in Death Valley - Furnace Creek Area (very near our lodge):
- Dante's view: the ultimate viewing point atop the mountain


- Natural Bridge: Massive rock span across the canyon, looks like a sturdy bridge for a giant
- Devil's golf course: immense area of rock salt with jagged edges... and you wonder why it's called devil's golf course

Check out the razor sharp salt-crystals.... I wouldn't want to fall at the Devil's golf course..

- Artist's Drive: Scenic loop drive through the colourful hues created by different minerals on the hills.

Stovepipe wells area:-
- Sand Dunes: Got to go there to satisfy dew's weird desire to set his feet on massive sand dunes after his dissapointment with the sand dune at Nida


Next stop:
- Scotty's castle: a spanish style mansion built by "fiticious gold"
- Ubehebe's crater


After Death Valley, we drove down to Les Vegas!


After checking into MGM Grand, we had dinner at Wolfgang Puck's bar and grill, followed by Mystere show at Treasure Island.

26 Nov'08: Les Vegas
After breakfast at Nathan, we drove to LV premium outlets. Another 4 hours of shopping before we went back to LV to explore the hotels at the strip.

Caught the fountain show at Bellagio again. Beautiful!

Honeymooning on the West Coast! (Part II)

21 Nov'08: Yosemite

Grabbed Takeaway breakfast before Dew started the long, hard drive to Yosemite...

Dew looking cool in Oakleys

Took us about 3 hrs to reach Yosemite from Fresno.

We checked into our night accomodation at Evergreen Lodge

33160 Evergreen Road, Groveland, California 95321
A nice cabin lodge, spacious with a small gas fireplace, surrounded by Stanislaus National Forest, and near the entrance of Hetch Hetchy Dam.

The draw of Yosemite~

The grand granite rocks, deep valleys, free-flowing waterfalls, crystal-clear river and vast wilderness... Indeed a nature's paradise!

View of Half Dome from Sentinel's Bridge

Bridal Veil - One

Lunch at Ahwahnee Hotel, known for its magnificent facade and architecture.
The Dinning Room looks really grand with it's super high ceiling - 34 foot with large sugar pine trestles and ceilin gto floor windows.

Nice patio at Ahwanee

It was near winter, and some of the roads could be closed due to snow. However, we are lucky that Glacier point is still open for sunset at half dome.

Dinner at Evergreen Lodge

22 Nov'08: Yosemite - Fresno

We started the day with a visit to Hetch Hetchy beofre continue sight-seeing at the Yosemite the next morning

Caugth a glimpse of teh colourful skies during our drive down the sloping terrain of Yosemite national park

Continue sight-seeing at Yosemite, grabbed take-away lunch & dinner before the long, long drive to Fresno.

Overnight at Fresno Four Points


23 Nov'08: Sequoia National Park
Breakfast at Carls Jr

Drive to Sequoia for sight-seeing
(7 Day park fee - USD20)




Lunch at Lodge


Grant Grove (20m) > Cedar Grove > Gant Forest

Dinner - taeaway at Holiday Inn Ventura

Honeymooning on the West Coast! (Part I)

17 Nov'08 (Mon): SIN-SF

We rush off to catch our flight the next day after our Wedding - the day we have been looking forward to!

1740 ETD SIN (SQ002)

1630 ETA San Francisco

2000 Check-in Hyatt at Fisherman's Wharf

We met Dominic for dinner at Buena Vista after checking in.

Menu: Dungeoness crab, cheesy potato skins, irish coffee (signature drink)

18 Nov'08 (Tue): SF

0700 Breakfast at Johnny Rocket

Touring around Fisherman's Wharf. *Pier 39 for the noisy california sea lions

0830 Board Alcatraz Cruise at Pier 41 for tour on the lone island (aka "The Rock"), which is visible from Fisherman's Wharf. It is touted to be an escape-proof prison, where notorious convicts like "The birdman"- Robert Stroud, Machine gun Kelly and etc once occupied the cells.

Do remember to book tickets far in advance online (abt 90days) as the excursion is very popular among tourist and space is limited.

Lunch at Boudin, which is famous for their Doughbread clam chowder

Dessert at Ghiradelli - Ghiradelli Sundae. Thier chocolate sauce is thick, and fragrant.

Cable car - A must-try for all first-time visitors! They will bring you up and down the city's steep hills.

Thereafter, we went for Mr Toad's postcard SF Tour at 1430

Truly worth the experience as it will take you to all the sights which is post-card worthy and of course, the touristy sites: e.g. Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Pacific Heights (the ultra elite e.g. the Gettys and Danielle Steel), Chinatown, Union Square , The FInancial DIstrict, The Marina District for a hazy glimpse of The Golden Gate Bridge...

However, it was not so worthwhile for us due to the freezing cold and foggy weather..

Dinner at Gary Danko (French fine dinning)

Thanks to Dominic, who helped us make the reservation for the night.

800 North Point St. (at Hyde St.) Reservations recommended. Opens daily from 5.30 to 10pm.

For USD250, we took a five-course fixed price seasonal set each. Menu in freestyle. My Favourite dish: Glazed oysters with lettuce cream

At the end of the meal after dessert, they would still present you with a plate of petite fours, which you can take-away if you can't stuff down anymore food, and a small box of pumkin cake for take-away. How Sweet!

A pity our jet lag kicks-in after our 3rd dish, and we felt so sleepy, we couldn't enjoy the experience to the fullest.

19 Nov'08: SF - Point Reyes - Lake Tahoe

0700 wake & shine before we set off to collect our rental car!

We made a trip to Lombard Street once again to experience driving down the "crookedest street in the world". Interesting!

We also drove to Golden Gate Bridge to get a photo before we set off for our road trip.

1st check point at Point Reyes National Seashore.

Stopped-by Drakes Oysters for fresh oysters!
Next stop: Napa Valley - Domaine Chandon for some wine-tasting, and picture-taking at their vine yards

After a Long, long drive to Lake Tahoe... (Poor Dew~) we checked-in Seven Seas Inn, which is located at South Lake Taho, for the night. We got the Baroque room, upstairs w fireplace. Not too bad for a Motel.

Late dinner at Hard Rock Cafe.

20 Nov'08: Lake Tahoe

After the complimentary breakfast at Seven Seas Inn, we went for a leisurely drive around Lake Tahoe.
Sight-seeing for the whole day around Lake Tahoe. Some of the sights not to be missed:-

~ Emerald Bay for its emerald green waters and the site of the only island in the Lake, called Fannett Island. Further down, we stopped at the carpark at head of Emerald Bay for a hike down to Vikingsholme. Vikingsholme is a 38-room scandinavian castle built in 1929.

~ Drive up North towards Tahoe City and stop-by for a lakeside lunch. Take a leisurely stroll after lunch, along Truckee River and check out the big trouts at Fanny Bridge.

Lunch at Rosie's Cafe. American food. USD31 for 2 pax

571 North Lake Blvd., Tahoe City. Address: 3940 Lake Tahoe Blvd. (at the junction of Hwy 50 and Pioneer Trail)

Dinner at Naked Fish. Spent USD62 for 2 paxs. It was awarded 2 stars by FroXXXXs, and touted as the best sushi bar in Tahoe. Well, I suppose there ain't much Japanese restaurants in Tahoe.. And for half the price I can get you sushi and sashimis at a much better quality in Singapore.