I have about just enough time to squeeze in one more trip. There's so many more places I wanted to go, but my time is almost up. I had to choose wisely, as this will be the last one. What else have I not seen? Then it hit me. I have yet to play with snow.

Then someone suggested Lassen Volcanic National Park, which was supposedly several gazzilion feet above sea level. Which meant I still have a chance to play with that chilly white stuff. And so off we went. The trip took about 5 hours plus, as we headed to the northern part of California. According to the information, Lassen is located about 50 miles east of Redding.

This time round, we got thru the entrance without any fiasco (unlike the experience we had at Grand Canyon). The weather was suprisingly hot, but the place was really nice. Lush greenery everywhere. And the best thing about it; there really was snow ^_^

The entrance.

The only sign of volcanic activity I could find. Some hole which was bubbling boiling underground water... sounds like someone farting every few seconds.

I felt like Maria Von Trapp when I saw this view... **running down the meddows like some bangla who juz got his legal documentations to work in M'sia**

Even nature can be BBM sometimes...

 DA HILLS AREEEE ALIVEEEEEEEEEE... WID DA SOUND OF MUUUUUSSSSSSSSIC...

Reminds me of Enid Blyton books... **poof**

Blek.

American Ais Kacang... finally get to touch some... ^_^

First pathetic attempt to build a snowman... geniuses at work.

Second, but slightly more successful attempt to build a snowman... hehehe...

**Krok... krek... krok... krek...**

Touch wood... hehehe ^_^

My buns are cold... hug me... pls?

Which concludes my trip of the National Park. It was late evening when we decided to head home. And so, we started driving down the twisty hilly road. Guess our luck ran out this time round. The was a small rock slide which littered the road with debris. And we were unfortunate enough to hit a pretty big rock, which ruptured the sidewalls of our front tire. Even the steel rim didn't stand a chance against the damn thing.

If this thing happen to my Avanti rims... I garenti menangis 10 hari 10 malam... sampai mata kering...

We had problems reaching the car rental personel for assistance, so we decided to just slap on the dinky space saver tire. I think my Suzuki's rear rubbers were even wider than this one. Rotated the good back tire to the front and threw the skinny little thing onto the rear. Having it on the front would be suicide, especially on a front-wheel-drive car.

And so we started crawling home at 50mph (max safe driving speed of that dinky bicycle tire). And the trip was 300 over miles back home. You do the math. Thank God we got home safely, even though it was really late during the night.

To the inventor of the space saver tire ->  t(>_<)t

I believe you can tell by now that I really adore Vegas... I really do. Sure, the sweltering 110 degree weather can be a killer, and it isn't much different during the night. But there's so much to see and take in, you don't really feel the heat after a while. That is, until you get back to the motel and you finally feel your skin screaming bloody murder.

I wish I had a little more time on my own to explore this really charismatic place. They don't call it the city of lights for nothing.

Waking up on a Sunday morning, with only 3 hours of sleep, the group decided to drive down to Arizona to visit the Grand Canyon. I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea, as I thought it was kinda stupid to drive 5 hours there just to see a huge 'lubang'. But I didn't want to spend the rest of the day holed up in the crappy motel (which was some 30 miles away from Vegas), so I jumped into the bandwagon.

And so we set off at 7 plus in the morning. Somehow, I had a premonition this was going to be a crappy outing. Using the directions we ripped from Mapquest, we drove till approx noon, before stopping for gas and filling up our tummies. Then we were asking ourselves... "WTF is the Grand Canyon??? The directions end here!" Boggled... we continued driving, and eventually we found a signboard showing where it's located. It was another crappy 52 miles away. Blardy Mapquest.

There were dark clouds looming at the horizon, and I was worried sick that the rain might jam a spannar into the whole trip. Luckily it was only a short drizzle and it died out after a while. But the day was still pretyy much overcast, and that didn't help my mood. By the time we reach our destination, I smacked my head when we saw a long jam leading to the entrance to the Grand Canyon. It must be at least a mile long. Traffic was practically at a standstill.

It was pushing four in the afternoon when we finally got to the gate. We had 2 season passes to the Canyon, courtesy of a colleague who just departed for home. The first car got thru the gate with no problems. But when it came to our turn, the bloody guard must be having PMS or something, insisted to check our ID, made me put down my John Hancock for verification, and when it didn't tally, told us to pay 25 bucks or turn around. Fark... we drove 350 miles for this crap??? That really screwed up my day, and from that point on... I couldn't enjoy myself anymore.

But we went on and started our tour of the Grand Canyon at around 5. There were a total of 3 trails; we started with the blue one. My lower back was killing me with every few steps I took. I felt ancient, being the only 28 year old among a bunch of youngsters in their early 20s. But the good thing about being with this bunch is, they're willing to try anything; throwing caution and time into the wind. They go wherever they want, they stop whenever they want. Which meant you get to see a whole lot more things.

The first time I saw the Grand Canyon, I have to admit I was dumbfucked by the sheer magnitude of the whole place. It made everything else look so insignificant... even achew's kanna-chi ( kä'nä' - chē) will end up miniscule in comparison. But once I got past all that, I still felt it wasn't worth the long drive and the cut-throat entrance fee. Plus the view was really foggy. 

Here're some pics I took... you be the judge.

Evening came really fast from that point on. By the time we got back to the souvenier centre, it was already pitch black. We did a little shopping, and had a small taco each before deciding to depart. When we finally fired up the engines, my watch was telling me it was close to 11pm. I hated night driving due to my severe astigmatism. Cars just smear into a puddle of colors and the streetlamps created huge halos of light; making driving really frustrating.

I estimated we'll reach the motel at around 3.30am. Which we almost did. Unfortunately, we got lost. Driving at this point proved to be a really aggitating experience. I was tired, famished, sleepy and tempted to perma-bash everything in my way. After several futile attempts to get back on the expressway, we whipped out the ol'skool paper map of Nevada and tried tracing it down. Eventually, we found our way back. By the time we took off our shoes, it was 5.30 in the morning. And the sun was almost up.

I pulled the blinds and hit the sack.

Grand Canyon.

Bah.

Listening to : EBTG - Drivin'

Many weeks have passed by. I've only been to San Francisco a handful of times, but everytime I'm here, there's always something new to see. Which is why it isn't hard for anyone to be charmed by this really charismatic city. Everywhere you look, there's bound to be a landmark which intrigues you, pulling you in, almost begging you to look up it's history. No two building are alike here.

While walking along the streets, I came across this traditional Italian outlet called Stella Pastry & Cafe just along Columbus Ave.

Now this place was really ol' school. It's just a small little place, but the ambience was warm and the barista, really friendly. The menu wasn't huge, but what they have, they do it really well. The aromatic smell of fresh pastry wafting in the air was ample proof of this.

I decided to have a small sample of the offerings here. A tall smooth mocha, a few assortment of crumbly biscuits and pastries. The key word to use here is fresh. Everything is made fresh daily, so you can be assured that you're getting the best. I had a chance to peek into their kitchen, and true enuf, there were tray after tray of fresh pastry dough waiting for their turn in the huge industrial oven.

It's nice to sit in a cafe where for once, you don't see any kiasu yuppies whipping out their laptops, surfing and yakking away on their 3G handphones. In it's place are real ppl, who are there to actually enjoy a hot cup of coffee together with some pleasant company. Or maybe just sitting there to savor a good book.

The food was good. But the biggest draw here has to be the sacripintina. Sacripintina is a multilayered cake made with zabaione (delicate custard composed of egg yolks, sweet butter, marsala and sherry wines) cream, sponge cake, and rum.

Now this cake was really something. It's airy light, yet seriously flavourful, with just the right amount of creaminess and a light liquory aftertaste. Sinfully delicious. You have to try this at least once if you drop by San Fran.

Give Stella a try. Your tummy demands it ^_^

It's been several weeks since I last visited anywhere worth mentioning. No choice-lar... since work is picking up and we wasted the past few weeks just shopping, shopping and more shopping to buys gifts for self, family & frens, colleagues and basically the whole kampung bek home. That is until we ran out of funds...

We decided to pay Santa Cruz a visit, and it was just an hour's drive from Milpitas. Which was great... since I have now developed a phobia to long drives. First place we visited was the Mystery Spot. No... not the G u perv... the place. It costs 5 bucks for a 20 minute guided tour, and we were lucky enuf to get this mulut lazer tour guide, who made the whole thing much more interesting.

The place was mostly a forest reserve.

And the main attraction was this spooky house which seems to defy all law of physics.

The moment I stepped into the place... I seem to hilang all sense of my bearings and I kept slamming into the walls since I could hardly keep upright.

But eventually... my balls started behaving like a gyroscope and I could finally start exploring the place properly...

Things roll up when it should be rolling down. Short ppl seem taller. You could scale up steep looking steps on the wall with ease. The place was juz plain freakin weird.

Gayut beb... GAYUT... woOt!!!

A compulsory BBM moment before we left. Wanna visit our Mystery Spot?

After that, we decided to head over to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Which wasn't too far away. When we reached there... parking space was applenty... but all of us ran out of quarters. So we had to walk around like jakuns... stopping at one shop after another to ask if we could change dollars for quarters.

Peh. 

Diva Baharom and Mr. K then slipped into their beach wear... while I had to go around wearing jeans coz I overslept and forgot to pack my speedos.

The place had a carnival kinda atmosphere. Sunny... colorful... loads of crazy rides. You couldn't ask for more.

Yum... yum...

 Limpeh belif I can fly...

The beaches couldn't beat the ones we have back in Malaysia (the sand is much coarser here), but still... it was nice to see the sea.

Broodmutha works here... woOOooHAHaahaha!!!

All in all... a rather nice trip. Which didn't cost a bomb.

Nice ^_^

*Note : Seribu satu tank kiu to my colleague who weathered thru my constant pestering to pinjam digicam throughout the trip. Kam sia banyak banyak... ;)

Listening to : Jane's Addiction - True Nature.

**Warning : Image intensive post.

Last weekend was one heck of a trip. We decided to drive down for a 2 day trip to L.A. Which was approximately 6-7 hours from where we were bunking. Before that, I had second thoughts about going to Disneyland... as I envisioned that it was going to be a budak budak kinda trip. But I'm glad I ended up going. I almost fainted at the price of the tickets (60 USD bucks a pop), but at the end of the day, worth every penny. We set off at 1.30am, and finally arrived at the Anaheim Hotel at about 7.30 in the morning.

Day 1 : Disney

The place was huge.

Lotsa nice touches here and there.

This ride was fun fun fun ^_^

I tried pulling this sucker out... no luck... peh... no royal blood...

The parade during the evening.

Toonland!

The presentation for this haunted house was fantastic... miles better than the rumah hantu at the pesta.

Was it worth waiting 45 minutes to take a photo with this tikus? Hahaha... he can bambi eyes... I oso can...

Sundown.

The fireworks display was awesome. But my camera sucks in night photography... so sorry... takde pics... u'll just have to take my word for it.

Day 2 : Universal Studios

Universal Studios was just a 20 minute drive from Anaheim. Yet again... 60 bucks per entry. But I had wanted to come here since I was a kid... so I didn't really care how much it cost.

Only managed to snap the first 2 photos before my camera died. The rest were pinched from my colleagues.

Looks familiar? Think War of the Worlds. This is the actual set.

Superhero so kecik onli ka? Hey... he stole my COKE!!!

Ring a bell? Suri rumah yang desperate? Yeah... we saw it all... ^_^

Anyways, this post is dedicated to Poporoti, who'll be leaving for home this evening. Many thanks for the generousity you've shown me during the past few weeks. Really appreciate it. And congratulations to you and your wifey when you get back to Penang ^_^

Napa Valley is famous for it's wineries. It's located some one and a half hours from where I'm bunking. So last Sunday, we decided to head down there for a tour of the place.

First stop was the Robert Mondavi Winery.

This place has the look of a proper winery. Looks very posh, but kinda clinical.

AiL and Diva Baharom with their goody bags... dun worry... it's just souveniers... ^_^

After that, it was off to the V.Sattui Winery. Now this place I like much better cause it's livelier.

They were holding a wine reserve tasting session today.

Loads of different types of cheese available for display.

Some light food should you get hungry.

The dude.

The pourings. We tried quite a few like sauvignon blanc, muscat, riesling, etc.

This is what happens when a sotong who can't stomach alcohol drinks...

Poporoti decided to buy a few bottles back to Pulau Penyu.

Listening to : Chicane - Halcyon

Four hour drive to Nevada. Freakin hot weather. Twisty roads.

The view?

Priceless.

I have no idea how the snow manages to stay solid in this type of weather...

Stop kejap pun kena put side tongkat... sipek lazy biker...

My 2 second moment of superiority... after that I was back to being a kucing kurap terbiar di tepi longkang...

I had to touch the water in the lake... freezing cold...

The drive home...