December 2010. We visited the USA, mainly Los Angeles and this little town called Mechanicsburg.
Here's the start of the journey, Changi International Airport. There is an area where you can use the Internet for free!
Day 1: We reached LA after a long flight across the Pacific Ocean, and rented a car to move around. First stop was to get to my cousin's place. After setting up the GPS and taking a slow drive, we finally made it.
We got to LA at a very bad time, actually. It happened to be the rainy season, and this year's rain was a lot more than usual. In fact, it was the worst rainy season they had in decades. The rain caused landslides and minor flash floods. It is totally not like the sunny California that we are so used to hearing about.
Day 2: We visited the Natural History Museum, driving there in the rain. It wasn't as interesting as we thought, just full of static displays.
The kid managed to get some hands-on though, trying to find buried fossils.
Right beside the Natural History Museum was the Science Centre. We managed to get there despite the rain, and it was a fun experience for the kid, since he was able to play around with the exhibits.
My cousin's husband had a Christmas party at his workplace and we were invited. The kid got a chance to take a photo with Santa Claus.
Day 3: We wanted to visit Kidspace Children's Museum, but it was closed due to the rain. So we went shopping instead at Desert Hills Premium Outlets. It was harrowing to say the least, driving in the rain... it was worse at night, trying to drive in the heavy rain on unlit and unfamiliar roads (you can barely see the lane markings...) and it is made worse since I was driving on a side of the road that I am not used to. But we made it through fine.
Day 4: The original plan called for a visit to Disneyland. The rain made sure that plan didn't materialise. Instead, we spent it shopping again, this time at the nearby mall.
Day 5: We left LA for San Diego. It was a nice drive down, during which we made a stop to get the kid an Elmo toy. We had wanted to visit Legoland, but it was closed due to the rain. Instead, we visited the aquarium (know as Sea Life Aquarium) at Legoland, and thought it was a good experience. The kid loved playing with the Lego bricks so much, we got him his own set.
We spent the night in San Diego before leaving the next day to catch our plane bound for Philadelphia.
Total distance driven: 493 miles
Here's the Mazda 6 that we rented for this part of the trip.
Here's the start of the journey, Changi International Airport. There is an area where you can use the Internet for free!
Day 1: We reached LA after a long flight across the Pacific Ocean, and rented a car to move around. First stop was to get to my cousin's place. After setting up the GPS and taking a slow drive, we finally made it.
We got to LA at a very bad time, actually. It happened to be the rainy season, and this year's rain was a lot more than usual. In fact, it was the worst rainy season they had in decades. The rain caused landslides and minor flash floods. It is totally not like the sunny California that we are so used to hearing about.
Day 2: We visited the Natural History Museum, driving there in the rain. It wasn't as interesting as we thought, just full of static displays.
The kid managed to get some hands-on though, trying to find buried fossils.
Right beside the Natural History Museum was the Science Centre. We managed to get there despite the rain, and it was a fun experience for the kid, since he was able to play around with the exhibits.
My cousin's husband had a Christmas party at his workplace and we were invited. The kid got a chance to take a photo with Santa Claus.
Day 3: We wanted to visit Kidspace Children's Museum, but it was closed due to the rain. So we went shopping instead at Desert Hills Premium Outlets. It was harrowing to say the least, driving in the rain... it was worse at night, trying to drive in the heavy rain on unlit and unfamiliar roads (you can barely see the lane markings...) and it is made worse since I was driving on a side of the road that I am not used to. But we made it through fine.
Day 4: The original plan called for a visit to Disneyland. The rain made sure that plan didn't materialise. Instead, we spent it shopping again, this time at the nearby mall.
Day 5: We left LA for San Diego. It was a nice drive down, during which we made a stop to get the kid an Elmo toy. We had wanted to visit Legoland, but it was closed due to the rain. Instead, we visited the aquarium (know as Sea Life Aquarium) at Legoland, and thought it was a good experience. The kid loved playing with the Lego bricks so much, we got him his own set.
We spent the night in San Diego before leaving the next day to catch our plane bound for Philadelphia.
Total distance driven: 493 miles
Here's the Mazda 6 that we rented for this part of the trip.
