day 10 and 11: free day in san francisco - ferry building and fisherman's wharf

On Bus F to Ferry Building

It was a slow start to a relaxing free-and-easy day in San Francisco today before our flight. We had a whole day to spare with absolutely no idea what we'd like to do. We spent the previous night listing out options, from museums to outlet shopping. Ultimately, we decided to chill out by the coast.

After breakfast, we took a 20-minute ride on a super crowded city bus to the Ferry Building, which housed a variety of restaurants and shops selling artisan cheeses, mushroom, pig organs, wines, olive oil and more.

We had lunch at Hog Island Oyster Co, a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet. It must be a pretty popular restaurant by the looks of its queue, we got a table by the water after a 25-minute wait. The fresh oysters were fantastic, so were the mussels, clam chowder and oyster stew we ordered.

We worked off lunch by walking to Pier 39. From the Ferry Building, which was at Pier 1, we must have taken close to 40 minutes to stroll to the more lively and family-friendly Pier 39.

We were all exhausted by the time we got to Pier 39. So we ordered beers at Luigi's pizza and chilled out.

We couldn't miss taking the city's iconic cable car. The queue took about 30 to 45 minutes; during the wait, we were entertained by how the cable car was manually turned on a wooden platform when it reached the end of the track. We were fortunate enough to get a standing space on the side of the cable car as it went up and down hill, all the way to Union Square.

After grabbing two slices of cheesecakes from the famous (and very crowded) The Cheesecake Factory at Macy's, as well as dinner at Burger King, we headed back to Holiday Inn to catch our bus to the airport. 

Cost: $23.30 Lunch at Ferry Building, $5 The Cheesecake Factory, $7 Burger King dinner

Highlight: The unique clam chowder at Hog Island Oyster Co - it was more like a creamy clam stew rather than a chowder, but extremely tasty!

day 9: san francisco city tour and cruise

Our hotel, Holiday Inn, is right beside the Civic Centre, where the grand City Hall stands. We had a quick photo stop before heading to Chinatown for Dim Sum breakfast.

A brief drive brought us to Pier 43-1/2 on Fisherman's Wharf, where we boarded the boat for the hour-long Red & White Golden Gate Bay Cruise. We sailed along the breath-taking waterfront, under the majestic Golden Gate Bridge and closely around notorious Alcatraz island.

Pier 39, which was 10-minutes walk away, had a lively collection of souvenir and novelty shops, and seafood restaurants.

We worked up an appetite before lunch by walking along the 40 degree-inclined Lombard Street located in the Russian Hill district. The road was so steep the city council had to build zig-zag roads in 1920s, known as the crookedest street in the world.

After lunch at Chinatown, we walked on the Golden Gate Bridge, which linked San Francisco and Marin County. The 1.2 mile bridge, took more than four years to build at a cost of $35 million.

Twin Peaks, the pair of hills offering the best views of San Francisco, was a short drive away. We went up the west Eureka Peak and enjoyed an amazing view of the entire city.

The night ended with a lovely dinner at Union Square John's Grill, one of the oldest and most established restaurants in San Francisco. We were having drinks the night before at John's Grill and decided to return for dinner tonight. We each had a 10-ounce Ribeye which turned out to be HUGE!

Cost: $2.75 hot chocolate, $35.38 Wines of California, $2.99 bottled water, $48.76 Gifts from Macy's, $134 Abercrombie

Nana Fund: $165 dinner at John's Grill at Union Square

Highlight: Hanging out by Fisherman's Wharf and the 1-hour cruise

day 8: monterey bay and drive to san francisco

Our first stop after an hour's drive from Fresno is a farmer's market, Casa de Fruta. With humble beginnings as a roadside cherry stall, it grew to become a fruit store and more, with Casa de Wine, Casa de Choo Choo (kid's play area), and a few others I could not remember. I bought some of their nuts, chocolates and candies.

The temperature dropped significantly from over 30ºc to under 18ºc as we headed south along the Pacific Coast to Monterey Bay, formerly known as Pinetree Bay when the Spanish first arrived in 1500s.

We stopped for lunch at Fisherman's Wharf, a collection of restaurants and shops by the pier. We ate at Crabby Jim's by the water with a lovely view of the bay. We had calamari, oysters, clam chowder, fish and chips, and pan seared scallops. The entire bill came up to $60. 

In 1846, a widow sold the land which is now the 17-mile drive for $500. It has since changed hands several times. In the late 19th century the area was paved, which measured exactly 17-miles, and thus earned its name. When Pebble Beach Corporation took over, it developed the area with residential houses, resorts and golf courses. The US Open had held tournaments here and this was where Tiger Woods got his first championship.

We travelled along the spectacular 17-mile drive, taking in the magnificent view of the coast. There were about 20 iconic stops along the route and we stopped at three:

1) Bird Rock - Hundreds of beds perched on a huge rock with otters or sea lions

2) The Lone Cypress - trademark of the Pebble Beach Corporation, and

3) Pebble Beach - got its name as it had lots of pebbles on it, but now it is just golf greens and sand.

After close to three hours of drive, we finally arrived in San Francisco.

Cost: $50.07 chocolate and nuts from Casa De Fruta, $98 Sephora

Nana Fund: $60 seafood lunch at Fisherman's Wharf, $32 drinks at Union Square

Highlight: Amazing views on the 17-mile drive

day 7: more shopping before the drive towards fresno

Roast pork ham, apple chicken sausages, chicken chop, macaroni and cheese, waffles and pancakes, sweet confectionary, and more! Counters and counters of glorious food greeted us this morning at The Buffet restaurant in Monte Carlo Hotel. I have never seen such a spead for breakfast!

After 50 minutes drive, we arrived at The Fashion Outlet of Las Vegas. Unlike the two earlier outlets we visited which had open walkways, this was a completely air-conditioned mall. This time, I picked up mostly gifts for friends. Jerrain was thrilled to see Bath & Body Works at this outlet. She went all out and bought over $110 worth of lotions, fragrances and creams! Well done girl! Daniel didn't lose out to the girls and found some decent-looking ties and a watch from Kenneth Cole.

The rest of the day was spent mostly on the coach. We made a stop at Barstow Station, which made national headlines twice, according to Dave. Once for a big fire, and the other for a armed hostage situation. We also drove through the Central Valley, an agriculturally rich area, and we stopped at a Farmer's Market to sample and buy locally-grown cherries, apples, tomatos, figs, grapes and more.

Cost: Bath and Body Works $43.78, Coach wristlet $52.97, Kate Spade $232.32, Subway lunch $10

Nana Fund: $22 drinks at hotel lobby

Highlight: Big buffet breakfast at Monte Carlo Hotel

day 6: grand canyon & cirque du soleil

It was an early set off this morning at 6am towards Grand Canyon. The two-hour coach ride was a scenic one, passing Lake Mead (which is bigger than Singapore) and into the State of Arizona. We saw the Black Canyon where the Hoover Dam was built and drove across a bridge overlooking the Arizona River.

Our first stop at Grand Canyon West is at the Administrative Point where they took our weight for the helicopter ride. Each helicopter sat five passengers and the lightest two will be in the front row beside the pilot. The three of us were assigned to Helicopter 56 with the honeymooners Damien and Claudia.

After a gruelling two-hour wait, we finally boarded our maroon helicopter. We were all excited since it was our first time in a helicopter. Once we were strapped in, the take-off was swift. The pilot took us over the canyon and into the valley. Although the ride was less than 10 minutes, the experience and view was heart-stopping.

It was very much warmer in the valley, our wait for the boat ride was difficult under the scorching sun. One of our tour members became ill and had to forfeit the boat ride. The boat ride was brief, and took us a few hundred metres upstream and back. Then it was back on the helicopter for a 10-minute ride back to base.

From the Administrative Point, we took the shuttle to Point B - Eagle Point, and Point C - Guano Point. The Skywalk, at the Eagle Point, is a glass bridge 1200 metres above the Grand Canyon floor. A few of our tour members paid US$30 each to walk across the bridge. Jerrain, Daniel and I decided not to take up that optional tour because you are not allowed to bring your own camera on the bridge. Instead, we took several photos a short distance away.

We had lunch at Guano Point overlooking the beautiful Canyon. After lunch, Daniel and Hui Ling climbed a nearby peak while Jerrain and I tried to capture them from afar.

We had two other stops before heading back to the Monte Carlo hotel - Hoover Dam and the 'Welcome to Las Vegas' sign.

The night ended on a high at Treasure Island Hotel where we caught Cirque Du Soleil for the first time. Mystere was such a feast for the eyes, there were so many (I mean SO MANY) dancers and artistes doing their thing at different points in the theatre at one time we didn't know where to look! My favourite parts were the trapeze item, guys crawling down walls like spiderman, and the super graceful dancers. It was my first time watching a circus and Cirque Du Soleil definitely delivered and exceeded all my expectations.

Cost: $12.03 supper from Sbarro at Monte Carlo, $5 snacks from Hoover Dam, $3.45 chocolate milk from Treasure Island

Nana Fund: $15 McDonalds breakfast, $12 taxi to Treasure Island, $11 taxi back to Monte Carlo

Highlight: Our virgin helicopter ride over the magnificent Grand Canyon

day 5: nevada - outlet shopping mania & las vegas

The day started with a 2-hour scenic drive out of Anaheim into the desert via a basin with mountains on both sides. My favourite view was one with a cargo train on its way with the mountains and blue skies in the background. I also spotted a few cows along the way.

The next two hours at Barstow Tanger Outlet Centre in the itinerary must be designed for travellers like Jerrain. And she did not disappoint. In the short time, she walked, scanned, browsed, rummaged, tried on, and walked away with several bags filled with jeans, dresses, accessories, a handbag, and more! Daniel did pretty well too, with a leather file for work, bag for his dad, keychains for his team, and a couple of t-shirts for himself. Me? I did my part with three pairs of socks!

After a quick lunch at In-N-Out, it was back to the coach for another two-hour drive.

Dave brought us to the Las Vegas Premium Outlet Mall, a much bigger one which was not on the itinerary. Because of a massive jam on the way there, we only had an hour plus to shop. This time, there was a Kate Spade boutique and I managed to find quite a number of items that I absolutely could not resist!

The optional Las Vegas Night Tour took us to both the 6.8km-long strip as well as the old Vegas. Las Vegas is home to 19 of the 25 world's biggest hotel and we visited two of them tonight.

The Bellagio has a musical fountain which played every 15-minutes, and it looked fabulous with the Paris-themed hotel in the background. The Bellagio lobby was lavishly decorated, with its ceiling centre decorated with  glass-blown flowers. Further in, we saw a garden with a glasshouse which kept real birds.

Caesars Palace was built in the 60s but it does not lose out to the newer hotels on the strip. It continually draws tourists with its huge mall.We only had a quick 25-minute look around, and checked out the Cheesecake Factory, aqaurium, and sky ceiling.

The third and last stop of our night tour transported us right back to Fremont Street where Las Vegas was born. I loved the old school lights and glamour! It revamped itself by building a covered walkway, which screens an 8-minute show on the ceiling. Along the walkway, there were staged performances, street artists, and more.

Cost: $30 Illuminating Las Vegas night tour, $204 Helicopter Tour at Grand Canyon, $26 'Dreaminf Bay Cruise' in San Francisco, $100 Nana fund, $5.67 Aeropostale socks, $532 Coach bags and presents, $6 sweet and sour pork rice for dinner

Nana Fund: $15 In-N-Out Burger for lunch

Highlight: After hearing people rave about In-N-Out which sold its burger for a limited time in Singapore, we had to try it when we saw it at the Tanger Outlet! We had a cheeseburger each and some fries, all pretty decent for $15!

day 4: anaheim - california adventure park

The one-day pass gave us access to either Disneyland or California Adventure Park. Since all three of us have been to Disneyland, we decided to go for the smaller but supposedly more thrilling California Adventure Park.

These are some of the rides and shows we caught:

1. Soarin' Over California - 9/10
Strapped to rows of seats, we were brought up and were hanging in front of a giant concave screen. Once we 'took off', we soared over famous California landmarks - bridges, mountains,  deserts, etc - with magnificent views as if we were in the pilot seat!

2. California Screamin' - 7.5/10
Check out prominent big roller coaster ride in the background of our photo and that was California Screamin'! The high speed coaster had ups and dooooowns, 360 and sharp turns to keep me screaming till the end!

3. Disney's Aladdin, A Musical Spectacular - 9.5/10
This left us singing their praises all the way out of the theatre. The hour-long musical featured magical sets, beautiful costumes and singers with voices to kill. We weren't expecting a full-fledge musical in a theme park but that was what we got!

3. It's Tough To Be A Bug - 5.5/10
A little like the Shrek experience in Universal Studios, you get sprinked with water, sprayed with scented smoke, tickled at your seat, attacked by giant spiders dropping from the ceiling, as you watch the character tell its story.

4. The Twilight Zone, Tower of Terror - 7/10
The elevator,  if you dared to enter, will bring you up to the top and drop you in a heartbeat, several times. Of course you are strapped to your seats so you don't end up breaking any ribs.

5. Radiator Spring Racers - 8/10
We were excited to take this ride because Jerrain loves the movie 'Cars', especially the character 'Sally'. Being one of the rides in the newest area 'Cars Land', there was a 60-minute wait. So we grabbed a fast pass in the morning which allowed us access without queuing at 6.25pm. The ride was entertaining with the first half spent mostly indoors taking us through different scenes in the movie. The second half was an exhilarating outdoor race.

6. World of Colour - 7/10
We were a little late, so we had to pretty much watch the musical fountain with several heads partially blocking our view. Despite that, Jerrain enjoyed the music, amazingly visual display and beautiful water works.

Cost: $5 churros with chocolate

Nana Fund: $29.86 lunch at Award Wieners, $13.90 Starbucks coffee, $42.09 for pizza & pasta dinner

Hightlight: Definitely the Disney's Aladdin, A Musical Spectacular show!