Los Angeles

Our drive from the airport to the hotel was a bit of a trial. I picked up the driving on the right with no hesitation at all, use to that one after so much driving here in the past.

Problem was the GPS wouldn't kick in and so we were driving just a little blind. I missed the turn to the 405 and stopped further up the road to gain my bearings and try to get the GPS working. I think it may be time to get a new GPS! Whilst parked a guy from the place we parked out the front off came out to assist us and with his advice we did a U turn and headed back to the 405 and south bound. I did take a wrong turn along the way and again we stopped to gain our bearings. It was at this stage we realised that the rental place had provided us with a one page map and with the help of that Rayls got us to Buena Park and our Days Inn hotel. Got here at 10:30m, stayed here plenty of times before, know the area and are comfortable with it. Just a few hundred metres from Knottsberry Farm.

The people allowed us to check in after a 10 minute delay and we are in room 115. Comfortable enough.

We did some unpacking but found ourselves walking around with no real aim as we were so tired. I did have an online visual conversation with Ryan who rang Telstra to try and solve the phone problem - got some advice but it didn't work.

By noon we flaked on the bed and slept till 5pm, a normal length sleep for me.

Then we headed just up the road to a mall and checked out our first WalMart for the trip. Also a Sears which was full of clearance specials so we both looked for clothes for well over an hour. The store closed so we had to leave at 9pm.

Went to a Dennys for dinner. Good food and then back to hotel around 10:30pm.

Oh yes....... whilst in the car park at the mall the GPS kicked in - go figure!

Celebrity spotting

One thing I forgot to mention earlier was that on our flight from Sydney the actor Patrick Stewart was on the flight - he was a row ahead of us on the other side of the plane - so he was in economy on a budget airline. Interesting!

It's just wrong!!!!

Whilst at Dennys on Monday night we note they have a new desert. I's a Maple Bacon Sundae!

Bacon makes a classic ice cream sundae even more awesome.  We start with maple flavored syrup, and a scoop of rich, creamy vanilla ice cream and then a generous sprinkle of our diced hickory-smoked bacon.  Add another sweet layer of syrup and vanilla ice cream topped with even more bacon and a drizzle of syrup.

It's just not right!

Day Two - 29th March

Just a day of shopping today. Scott is still unwell so we couldn't hook up.

We started the day at Carrows across the road from the hotel. Took a photo same as last year, tried to show up my weight loss - not sure it worked (the photo).
Then we headed to Fry's Electrical for a look see - cool shop. 

Then to a shopping mall for a JC Penney, Sears and a Wal-Mart. Slowing stocking up on some clothes.

Then a Best Buy, bought a holder for the GPS there. Much better now, I can see where I am suppose to go.

Back along 91 to Cerritos, although we ended up at a Wal-Mart in Norwalk - not sure how, blame the GPS. We were actually looking for an AT&T store which we knew was near the Cerritos Wal-Mart so in looking for the Cerritos store we ended up at the Norwalk store.

So we made another effort and finally got to the right location but in our excitement at getting to the right location we accidentally went up the freeway on-ramp and so had to head away and back. Why they put a freeway on-ramp in the middle of a shopping area is beyond me.

Anyway, we got the sim card at the AT&T store and have a local phone number. My home phone is still not working. Not sure what has gone wrong there. We did also visit the Wal-Mart store there - that's 4 stores in less than 24 hours - Geoff will be pleased.

Around 5pm we headed back to base and an iHop for dinner - back to hotel room and not long after 7pm we were asleep. Jet lag and old age - terrible duo.

Now it is 1am and we are both up, me working on this and Rayls looking at the map for quilt shops to visit in San Diego where we aim to go tomorrow.