USA Trip Day 30 - 3 Oct 2014 - San Francisco Suburbs

I had to finish packing early as my highschool friend would pick me up around noon for lunch. 

We haven't seen each other since I was 17-18 years old so it has been a decade! I was happy our friendship remained the same despite being apart for such a long time. 

I don't know about others, but I very much prefer face to face catch up over emails or Facebook. I feel that giving time to be with each other shows sincerity in keeping that relationship, rather than just for show to others in social media. 

Do you know what else I was happy with? Lunch!

This family-run Millbrae Pancake House has been around for almost 60 years and I must say, pancakes were delectable. (But IHOP would still be my No.1, shhhhh)

USA Trip Day 29 - 2 Oct 2014 - Across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito

What a whirlwind voyage it had been! We took it slow today, and left home around 10am to visit Mister's late grandfather. After stopping by to get a bouquet of flowers, Uncle drove us to cemetery, where we paid our respect to the deceased.

After a brief stop at Target, we took a spin to Mountain View's Castro Street around noon for lunch. It's a lovely area with diverse options of restaurants, to spoil you for choice. 

 Mountain View's Castro Street

 Isn't it a delightful place to enjoy lunch al fresco? 

USA Trip Day 28 - 1 Oct 2014 - National Cathedral & Zoo in DC

After a full day of touring museums and sightseeing that covered several iconic buildings which formed the heart of the American political system, we wanted to do something completely different. So we diverged from our original itinerary and took a impromptu trip down to the National Cathedral & Zoo.

With a Virgin America flight to catch at 5:10pm, we managed to reach National Cathedral by 10:30am after a 30 minute commute using subway and bus (30S or 33 or 96). 

Gothic Architectural Style 

USA Trip Day 27 - 30 Sep 2014 - Smithsonian Museums

After an extremely light lunch, we prowled the many isles of various Smithsonian Museums. It was indeed a great way to escape the scorching hot afternoon sun. The Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest museum and research complex.  It is made up of a whooping 19 museums / galleries on top of the National Zoological Park! The best thing about this complex? Most of them are FREE and open almost everyday!

Smithsonian Institution's Castle

Open daily 0830-1730 (except Dec 25)

Completed in 1855, this building houses visitor centre, castle cafe and museum souvenir shop.

USA Trip Day 27 - 30 Sep 2014 - Home of POTUS & FLOTUS

Our first stop of the day - The White House.

We left Days Inn hotel around 10:15 am and took Red Metro from Van Ness UDC Station to Metro Centre Station, 5 stops away.  Along our short stroll from metro station to The White House, we felt a sense of tranquility and order, perhaps too rigid and strict, but without the jumble and chaos we witnessed in other metropolitans like San Francisco and New York City.

Definitely the cleaner part of the USA

USA Trip Day 26 - 29 Sep 2014 - Philly's Benjamin Franklin Parkway

After a light lunch at the Reading Market, we hopped on a bus towards the Benjamin Franklin Parkway - a scenic mile-long boulevard that starts at City Hall, curves around Logan Circle and ends before the Museum of Art. We reached the heart of Philly's cultural centre, comprised of several famous sights around 2pm.  Our plan was to take bus all the way to the Museum and walk back towards City Hall at leisure.

Museum of Art

Address: 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Opening Hours: 10:00 - 17:00 (everyday except Monday)
Entrance Fees: US$ 20.00 per adult for 2 consecutive days access including entrance to the Rodin Museum 

USA Trip Day 26 - 29 Sep 2014 - Free and Easy Philly

We woke up, packed our bags, checked out of the hotel, left our stuff with the storage bell boy and left for breakfast at IHOP around 1030am. Oh my, that was my very first time at IHOP and I was asking myself why I didn't discover this place sooner?!! 

Amazing taste would be an understatement for a brunch at IHOP 

USA Trip Day 25 - 28 Sep 2014 - Founding Story of the USA

We woke up in the wee hours and took subway towards the 34th St - Penn Station.  While our Bolt bus departure is 815am and google map route indicated trip duration to be around 1 hour, we set aside almost 2 hours just to be sure.  It was barely after 6am on Sunday, so the train frequency might not be what we were used to in Singapore. We didn't want to take any chance of missing our bus :D

It was good that we left our friend's place around 630am, as we had to take 2 train services and the bus afterwards (I think it was M34, 5 stops). There were only 15 minutes to spare by the time we reached Bolt bus! Phew

USA Trip Day 24 - 27 Sep 2014 - Outlet Mall Shopping in New York

Now that I look back on our two days with New York Pass, it was crazily packed!  We squeezed in several sights in those two short days but we didn't regret it one bit though. It's such an exciting city. But after 4 days of sightseeing, we wanted something different so we boarded the bus to Woodbury Common Premium Outlet.  

https://woodburybybus.com/Woodbury/Home

It is located just an hour drive from NYC Port Authority and return bus ticket cost us US$37 each. There were a huge assortment of shops ranging from Adidas, Burberry, Coach, DKNY, Gap, Kate Spade, MK, NIke, Nine West to Tory Burch. I honestly don't think you would regret it if your bucket list of the United States holiday include a shopping spree.  

Plus points
1) Great assortment of brands
2) Better designs
3) Beautiful surrounding
4) Easy to get there from NYC

You should go if you won't get a chance to visit other outlet malls.

Downside

The bargains are not as great as in Vegas or Palm Springs.  If you are visiting those places and are hunting for the best deals, then skip this Woodbury Common. 

USA Trip Day 23 - 26 Sep 2014 - Touristy NYC (4)

We reached Madison Square Garden and decided to check with the ticket counter on tour timings. They asked us to quickly join the group as 2:30pm tour had just started 5 minutes ago! Lucky us didn't have to wait for another departure.  We were nonetheless praying for our tummies to behave and not to embarrass us with rumbling sounds though :D 

It was intriguing to learn the milestones this iconic venue has witnessed such as Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to the then-President Kennedy. 

Not a single pillar in sight

USA Trip Day 23 - 26 Sep 2014 - Touristy NYC (3)

Today is the second day of our NY Pass and these are the attractions we visited today. We actually scheduled NY Skyride for Day 1 but it was closed by the time we reached yesterday so we added it to today.  However, I wouldn't recommend NY Skyride as it was utterly underwhelming.

Day 2 Overview

1/ Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Immigration Museum

2/ 9-11 Memorial & Tribute Centre

3/ Madison Square Garden All Access Tour

4/ American Museum of Natural History

5/ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

6/ NY Skyride

USA Trip Day 22 - 25 Sep 2014 - Touristy NYC (2)

It was 2:15pm. The drizzling rain has taken a break. The elusive Sun was taking a sneak peak into our world. We took a short bus ride towards the southern tip of Manhattan.  

An hour later, we found ourselves in front of this massive ship

USA Trip Day 22 - 25 Sep 2014 - Touristy NYC (1)

We bought 2-day unlimited use New York Pass for US$ 129.99 and today would be our first day of use. New York Pass allows you to see as many attractions as you like from the list of over 80 eligible places during 2 days. If you are not into partaking in activities meant for tourists and are more of a "explore local neighborhoods and people-watch" kind of person, this pass is not for you.

https://www.newyorkpass.com/En/new-york-attractions/

Of course, we gotta factor in all the travel time so we had to prioritize the few attractions we would see with our two-day pass. We visited 12 places in total. I honestly think the pass is an amazing deal though. We had already recovered our pass cost of US$ 129.99 on our first day alone!

Day 1 Overview

1/ Top Of The Rock 

2/ Rockefeller Centre Tour

3/ Radio City Music Hall Tour

4/ The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

5/ Circle Line: Harbor Lights Sunset Cruise (2 hours)

6/ Empire State Building Observation Deck

USA Trip Day 21 - 24 Sep 2014 - Free and Easy in the Big Apple

My kind friend is bringing us around the Big Apple today and highlight was food :D

We first started off with Dim Sum brunch in Elmhurst, Queens  area before ending up in Central Park around 1pm.  The funny thing was I needed to use the toilet urgently and the first thing we looked for was huge shopping malls like in Singapore. But my friend was like there was no such thing in NYC as many stores were stand-alone! Plaza Hotel saved me from embarrassing myself though hahaha Also, the hotel's basement has food court in case you are looking for one in the area.   

Charismatic horse carriages at your service to make you feel like a princess! 

USA Trip Day 20 - 23 Sep 2014 - NYC's Broadway

Today, we are taking a 9:30am Amtrak train from Boston to the Big Apple! So, around 8:30am, we headed out of our Airbnb, walked for about 10 minutes to the Tufts Medical Center Station to take SL4 for 2 stops to the South Station. 

Time Check: 9am at the Boston South Station 

USA Trip Day 19 - 22 Sep 2014 - Harvard Area

From TD Garden, we took Orange T to Downtown Cross, transferred to Red T and ended up at the Harvard Station.

First Parish in Cambridge with 400 years of history 
Its congregation honors the spiritual diversity in the Unitarian Universalist tradition.

USA Trip Day 19 - 22 Sep 2014 - Delving into the history of USA (Freedom Trail)

Such a long day ahead of us!  Filled with places to be, things to do, yummy food to eat :D  But first thing first - BREAKFAST!  Remember how we had to skip Paramount Restaurant the day before due to limited space? Today is the day we gotta try their famous breakfast.  

USA Trip Day 18 - 21 Sep 2014 - Onto East Coast (Boston)

A gust of chilly wind greeted us in Boston.  Even inside the airport terminal, the air was frosty.  Sleepy us took shuttle bus SL1 to Boston South Station (5 stops) then took Red Line T to Charles Station (3 stops). 

US$ 2.25 per trip with Charlie Card

US$ 2.75 per trip with Charlie Ticket / Cash on board

US$ 12.00 unlimited 1 day Link Pass

US$ 21.25 unlimited 7 days Link Pass

Barely an hour after our 745am arrival in Boston Logan Airport, we were right smack in the middle of Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood. We had about 3 hours to spare as we could only check in to our Airbnb accommodation only around noon. 

USA Trip Day 17 - 20 Sep 2014 - Self Drive Holiday: Palm Springs -> Santa Babara -> Solvang -> San Francisco

Even though it was just 7am, the sun was shining so brightly and I felt quite warm already.  We had breakfast at hotel and set out on our epic road trip back to San Francisco! We planned to return our rental car at airport and catch an 11pm flight to Boston from SFO. I was quite worried though as Mister was gonna be the only driver for such a long journey. Hence, we incorporated pit stops along the way. We were on our way by 745am.  

Byeeeee Palm Springs

USA Trip Day 16 - 19 Sep 2014 - Self Drive to Palm Springs (AND shopping!)

For the next two days of our trip, we booked a car from Alamo. So we packed our bags, left hotel around 8am and took FlyAway shuttle bus to LAX to pick up our car around 930am. 

FlyAway shuttle bus to LAX

We paid US$ 8.00 per pax for one way ticket but its US$ 9.00 now.

We then drove back to hotel, checked out, loaded our bags onto the car, bought breakfast and were on way to Griffith Observatory, for a closer view of Hollywood sign.  There is free parking available at the observatory parking lot but we had to wait a few minutes for the lot.  Even then, we visited on a weekday! 

If you are interested in hiking, you can try the 3 miles trail from the parking lot towards the sign. 

http://hollywoodsign.org/hiking-to-the-sign/