SOCAL Trip 2009

Yes still here in beautiful and sunny California. Had the wedding on Saturday and must say it was just simply beautiful. But for my sake I'll write about the stuff thats happened as of late, simply because I want to look back and read about the trip..

Seventh day in SD I opted to join my parents and uncle to eat at a Buffet and visit more relatives instead of going with brother, Kuya Randy and Teddy around to the marine base. It was hot and there was quite a long walk to the base..lol i didn't feel up to it. The Buffet was a lot of fun, lots of food. Omg honestly i've been eating so much, the food is just so yummy and hella cheap! After a couple of hours at the joint we headed out and decided to visit relatives at a nearby suburb Mira Mesa. Spent a couple hours there talking/catching up then headed back home.

All the cousins were gathered together, most had just gotton home early from work to focus on wedding preparations. I also got to meet another cousin, well second cousin, John who I had no idea existed. He's about my age which was pretty cool as most of the other kids were older. Eden and Lady also invited me to go with them to a nail salon nearby so we could get a manicure and pedicure for the wedding. Like I said to Eden after getting my toes done, my toes have never felt so much love and affection haha. The ladies gave my toes the whole shabang! It was so relaxing I could seriously get used to it. I chose a deep purple colour for my nails, and even got a nice flower painted on my nails to match the bride :)

We got back from the salon and was only home for a few more minutes before we had to head out again to run more errands. Eden, Teddy, my brother and I went for a drive downtown to buy a couple cards and beauty products before we left for Temecula the next day. Driving at night with the windows rolled down is so relaxing. Especially in SD, its more desert like than city which means more rocks and hills but with really pretty and big houses. Got home and organised brochures for the wedding and worked on more wedding related stuff. Pretty hectic day for the bride and groom, so we all lent a helping hand.

Eighth day we made our way to Temecula for the wedding rehearsal at Ponte Winery. Packed for two night stay at hotels we all boarded the cars and made the 2hr treck to the resort. It was meant to be a 2hr drive but since we were late already we cut it down to about an hour, lots of speeding. Fell asleep watching the the grassless mountains going by. We got to the place and it was so completely hot and dry. SD was hot but not as hot as Temecula, which reached about 95 degrees Fahrenheit, which is roughly in the 30's in degrees Celsius. I was sweating like a mother chucker. After the rehearsals we made our way to a Seafood Buffet in Murrieta. MORE food. I tried not to down so much food this time round cos walking around full and bloated in the heat sucks. We left the buffet and headed to our hotels. Most of bridal party went to stay in one hotel called Pachenga and the rest of the guests where scattered around at other hotels. Brother and I decided to hang around and check out their rooms. They ordered a nice suite on the top floor with a nice view. Also got to check out my cousins wedding dress whilst there and it was beautiful. Got introduced to more people and quickly made friends. An interesting day overall. We stayed around for dinner but left soon after because there wasn't much for us to do. It was a hotel with a casino and since brother, John and I were under 21 we decided to head out to our parents hotels we're we planned to spend the night. The rest of the group partied to the early dawn.

Our nineth day of our stay in Cali was our cousins Wedding. One of the main reasons we had come over to America. The day was simply beautiful. It went by smoothly and the bride was beautiful and elegant in her wedding dress. Most of the bridal party particular the groomsmen already had a little too much to drink and could tell afterwards from their bloodshot eyes LOL. The ceremony went on for about 30mins and we had some drinks before the reception whilst the bride, groom and bridal party took photos. I didn't get a chance to drink, but I had a few sips here and there from wine offered to me by cousins. The lady serving carded me, I tried lying but she saw right through me I responded with "I'm legal in Australia" LOL no worries the wine didn't really tickle my fancy. The celebrations went through the night with lots of photos and dancing. Was a lot of fun, and got me thinking of my own wedding in the very distant future :P

The tenth day was spent recuperating and driving back to San Diego. A chillaxing day after yesterday's festivities but nevertheless it was a chance to hang out with the family at home. John decided to stay over so all of us cousins had a chance to hang out more before we left for Florida in a few days time. Spent most of the time gathered round the television and searching up random clips on youtube. A couple of Lady's friends camer over before they headed back to San Fran to take a look at some pictures dad took with his camera from the wedding. It was one of the first pics they got to see of the wedding-the pro photos would probably take a couple weeks. Have uploaded just a small handful on FB.

Six Flags, Magic Mountain ! Yes our second last day in SD was spent riding adreneline rushing rollercoasters! We were given the choice of going to LA and doing some sightseeing (which I really wanted to do) or go to the desert and ride rollercoasters. Of course we chose the latter. I really wanted to do the whole LA sightseeing thing, but Six flags sounded so much more appealing. Maybe next time when we're in the country again. But yes Six Flags was A LOT of fun. I'm totally into rollercoasters and anything that gets me completely scared out of my wits! My brother on the other hand wasn't. Completely scared of heights, it didn't help his fear when the first ride my cousin suggested had a plunging free fall ! Goliath left me dizzy after stepping out of the seat. I opened my eyes during the first fall and couldn't even see the tracks it was that steep. And the G-force after the second last loop was face strectching...HAHA I can't even explain it. The Goliath set the bar. We went on nearly all the rides, half way through though Justin and John decided to get some henna tattoo's identical to the ones Randy had. We wasted a few minutes waiting around for the guys then decided to leave because it would probably take a while. So Randy, Maggie and I went off to check out more rollercoasters. We rode the Terminator, Viper, X2 and Tatsu which were all considered MAX on the thrill rater. But Tatsu would have to be my favourite alongside Goliath ! You were seated normally upon first seating, normally as in life a seat with a harness strapped down your chest and just before starting it pulls the seat back so you're completely parallel to the floor and thats how you are throughout the whole ride. During the twists and turns it feels like you're actually flying! OH man BEST EVER. I would have gone on another 3 times but the line was just too long. Goliath on the other hand we got to ride 3times. Second time we were seated directly in front and last time in the back. Both were really good places to sit. We took home a photo from the ride in which I tried to do a face but the G force was so extreme i couldn't even lift my head up to do it properly LOL.

We stayed until the park closed (abit before 12am) and drove to John's house in Lancaster where we'd meet up with our parents and stay the night-minus Maggie and Randy who had to take another 3hr drive back to SD because of having to work the next day. Had so much fun and was so extremely tired I dozed off as soon as I shut my eyes.

Our 12th day we spent in Lancaster with John and his family. Had breakfast, had more relatives come over and took a lot of photos before we trained it back to SD. I found out later on though that the room my parents and I stayed in was haunted. Well the whole house was but it was felt more in that room. I slept soundly though and didn't encounter jack but mum did apparently. Filipino extra sensitivity to the paranormal or not I don't know. I like to keep completely oblivious to all things paranormal LOL. We boarded our train and said our sad farewells as we would probably not see them again before we left for Australia. Got back to SD late in the arvo where we went to get a bite to eat at IN n OUT which till this day stands as my favourite place to eat ever. ANIMAL FRIES ANIMAL FRIES yumm im salivating haha. I didn't want to leave for two weeks without having a lasting taste of the yummy cholesterol filled food LOL. Apparently the reason it tastes so fiiineee is because they make it on the day, as in they cut potato and fry it on the spot etc. I don't know... but it tastes good or maybe its blessed being a Christian joint and all, it has that beautiful godly taste!

Got back home and started preparing for what to pack for our two week trip up the east coast, starting at Florida. We decided to bring only two suitcases as we'd probably be on the road and clumped up in a car which could only hold a handful of junk in the boot. Smart idea because that's exactly what happened. Anyway we spent the last night chatting to Randy and Maggie, sharing scary stories and what not.

Our thirteenth day morning in SD was filled rushing around trying to gather our belongings and making it in time for our flight to Florida which had a stop over in Houston, Texas. LOL I can kind of say i've been to Texas even for a few minutes :) Yes we sad our goodbyes to relatives, though they were not our final because we'd see them again in two weeks. Initially I thought the flight would be 10hrs from SD to Florida because I calculated our departing time and arrival but didn't take into account the time difference. So really it was only 6hrs. Wasn't bad got the chance to finally watch 17 again :)