Day 9- Hearst Castle

Hello Rimu!

Today we went to the Hearst Castle and looked at the history of the Hearst family. It was built on a really big hill and was more than three story’s high! It was made by William Randolph Hearst and he started 1919 and took him 28 years to make it! And yet it still isn’t finished! That would’ve taken soo long to build! He was the man who made the first Newspaper industry and that’s how he got all of his money.

This is one of the main water fountains at the entrance patio. The patio originally was the fountain and path but it was later extended to what you see.

This was one of the tapestry’s that were hung on the walls inside the Great Room for insulation. Only very rich people have them. Usually Kings & Lords have them. He used to invite celebrities and Hollywood’s most famous actors of the time. There was also a fire place so big they could fit up to 3 adults inside of it!

This is the Neptune pool located near the stairways leading to the entrance of the building. This pool wasn’t like any other pool, you had to wear tops on because Hearst didn’t allow open-chested swimming. He did not let open-chested swimming because it was not acceptable to swim showing your skin in the 1940s.

This is he main entrance to the castle

Day 8 - Squirrels 🐿

Hello Rimu!

Before leaving the Fisherman’s Wharf , we spotted some Seals! There were soo many sitting on the piers! Most of them were laying down in the sun, taking a nap. While the rest were playing and pushing each other off the piers. They were so loud that you could hear them from the entrance of the pier!

Later on that day we went to a park in Golden Gate Park and there was a lot of plants from different countries in the world. They had NZ as well! We got Dad to call a squirrel to him and he touched his tail!🐿 Here is the video.

i 

These were all of the seals on the piers laying in the sun. There were soo many of them.
And they were ver loud too.

Along the way to a special place in the next blog we saw some different kind of seals. I believe it was elephant seals or something like that. They kept flicking sand on themselves for shade. Like an elephant and mud. I guess that’s why they’re called that.

Day 7 - San Francisco

Hello Rimu! Today we went to San Francisco to see he Golden Gate Bridge. Did you know that California’s nickname is the ‘Golden State’, mainly because there was a gold rush in 1848? I think that’s why the Golden Gate Bridge got it’s name.

We went to a old military bunker on the hill that looked over the bridge at sunrise. We climbed over the fence on the cliff and found one of the buildings had cool graffiti on it.

After that we went down to the Fisherman’s Wharf and we toured a submarine from WW2. Then went to an arcade that had really old machines. Some of them were older than my grandfather! There was a chair called the “Throne of Love”, I sat in it and it told me I was sizzling hot! There were a lot of tourist shops. We went through a mirror maze that was really cool, but it didn’t take long to find the end. We didn’t get to go to Alcatraz because they were sold out but we could see it from the binoculars on the pier. 

Day 6 - On the road again

Hello Rimu! Today, all we did was drive around in our cozy little RV. I’m trying to get my blogs done but most of the time we don’t have internet. 

For breakfast today we had Maccas. I had a sausage & egg McMuffin BUT it was no ordinary English muffin, it was maple pancakes!!

I had a little fun At Walmart! 

We stopped at an RV stop for the night and there were signs everywhere about rattle snakes! 

See Mrs Taylor, I am getting my work done.

Day 5- On the US NAVY base

Hi Rimu! Today I was with my Grandpa at a Navy base. My Grandpa is a retired US Navy veteran so we get to go on base as his guests. They have security everywhere and salute him  all the time. He took us to a museum with old military trucks, missiles, and planes. There was a lot to play with in the At the museum. We went to a Missile display just outside the base. There were a lot of cool missiles to look at, well more than I can count! 

This was my first day at the Navy base and we already left to go to sightsee.
This was one of the jets that they had at the display.
Me and Grandpa are on the right.

This is my favourite missile so far. Each one has a different feature. Some are heat seeking and are used to shoot down enemy missiles before they hit their target. 

I got to sit on a WW2 Flak gun. They were used for shooting down planes.

This is an F14 Tom Cat. It’s a supersonic fighter jet. I haven’t seen the movie TopGun but apparently this is the plane they used. 

Lastly, we carved a Halloween jack o lantern (pumpkin) and had s’mores, which are marshmallow, chocolate and graham cracker melted together. They’re delicious.

Day 4 - On the Road to Grandpa’s

Hello Rimu! I am just leaving San Diego, we’re heading North today to pickup our camper. Then we’ll stop in Santa Monica before heading to Point Mugu to see my Grandpa who has traveled from Maine to California just to visit us! We’re staying in a RV park on the beach. First, we had to pick up the RV and drive on the Pacific coast highway. 

Then we stopped at the Santa Monica Pier and walked on the boardwalk.

This is me walking along the shoreline. There were so many seagulls running from the waves like children. At one point I tried talking to the Pigeons on the boardwalk.

I had a go at a ring toss game, but I didn’t win. It was harder than it looked!

Day 3- LEGOLAND part 2

(Sorry about the late posting because I was with my Grandpa.) Hello Rimu! As You might know,this is the second day in Legoland park. Today could probably have been the better day because I went on all of the rides! My most favourite ride was a roller coaster with a lot of twists and turns. We eventually finished all of the rides and walked through the rest of the mini land. It included a lot of referenced cars such as Volvo and Prius and many more!

This is the Capitol building but a lot of people think it’s The Whitehouse! 

This is one of the exclusive Legoland sets. I think it’s supposed to be the castle that we stayed in.  Isn’t the dragon so cute? On the way out we got some awesome LEGO sets from the BIG shop. I felt really excited to get one of the biggest sets I’ve ever had. If you’d like to see me build it here is the link to my YouTube channel https://youtu.be/ADSPm1FE1U8

 This was a Minnesota wind farm I believe, I’m not sure.🤔 It was so cool! You can see the video below of a whole city. It’s amazing!

I 

Day 2- LEGOLAND Part 1

Today we arrived at LEGOLAND!!! I felt REALLY excited because this has been somewhere I’ve always to go. We spent the day in the waterpark and the SEA Life Aquarium. We saw puffer fish, jellyfish, seahorses, sharks and there was even a special “finding nemo” tank. 

Later in the day we went to a pumpkin patch, had a tractor ride and went in a corn maze. 

The. Back to the Legoland Castle hotel- OMG it is awesome! 

 

Day 1- A 13 Hour Fliight!

Hello Rimu! On Saturday night, flew to Auckland, which took over an hour, then had a 12 hour flight to LA! It was really turbulent for a while but the pilots managed to swerve away from the air pockets. We had a TV and a tracker in the seat that told us where we were. Anyway, enough about the planes. We got our rental car and headed to San Diego. 3 hours south of LA. We are staying in a hotel for the night. So we had to drive for a few more hours on 405 freeway. It was 7 lanes wide! Here are some of the photos from the day.