OUR FINAL RULE OF AMERICA

Dreams Resort Foyer

Dreams Resort beach cabanas

Indian beach wedding

Adam...not too much seal skin all things considered!

Adam - this is the life.

WTF??

RULE NUMBER 20

"Dont call it a comeback" - LL COOL J

Well, it looks like we can get internet in the very awful United section of LAX. Not free of course.

So, here it is folks. The final recap of what has been a trip for the history books...our history books at least.

Our last day in Mexico was spent having a decent brekkie (as described in great detail in blog 19) followed by some pool lounge lizard work. Its bloody hard getting a decent poolside lounge in the morning because people generally break the rules by 'reserving' spots before breakfast. It kinda sucks but hey...there is plenty of pool and sunshine for all of us. We ended up in the lower pool area right on the beach where you can check out the beach volleyball and have a game of mini golf on the short course right in front. Of course you can also partake in the food and bevvy service whenever you feel the itch. The weather in Mexico has been nothing short of perfect - mid to high 20's the whole time and with little wind most days. Our day of relaxing was broken up by a siesta in the arvo (i slept, Gemma downed a club sandwich!). We hit the pool for some cocktails (anything with pineapple, coconut and white rum for me thanks amigo) and some late arvo sunshine. It was St Paddy's Day so the staff were all wearing green and hosting fun activities such as Beer Pong and basic sculling games. The pool area was packed and in high spirits and there were more than a few loud boofy yanks trying to out pimp each other...admittedly there were also a few hotties strolling around wearing their dental floss bikinis...I didnt look though.

After a few drinks i was feeling fluffy in the head so we decided to have a wake up shower and prep for din dins with some new friends, Nick and Simone. We met those guys on the transfer shuttle on the first day in Mexico and had bumped into them repeatedly for a drink at the pool bar. They are a nice couple from Sydney who are also expecting a midyear baby.

Dinner was at the 'Asian' restaurant...good company, couple of drinks and the food was...ummm...shite. But the service was good and we hit the beach party - organised for St Paddy - straight after to finish on a high. A few beach fires were going and there was a cover band playing...butchering...some classics from around the world. The highlight was the fire dancers who were going off with some very cool and dangerous maneuvers. Relatively early night after a packing session orchestrated by the wifey.

Today was a day of travel back to LA and the mental preparation of the looooong....looooooooong flight home via Sydney.

OK.

OUR TOP 15 EXPERIENCES FROM THE LAST 3 MONTHS:

1) first night in NYC: drink at the bar at Il Bagatto followed by Kevin Spacey siting; followed by great Italian dinner.

2) first snow: shopping in SOHO with a light snow.

3) walking Central Park at sunrise after a fresh dump of 2 feet of snow.

4) the two theatre events on Broadway - Al Pacino in Merchant of Venice and Keifer Sutherland, Brian Cox, Mr Big and Jason Patric in The Championship Season.

5) party night out with Amie and Steve in NYC: Indian dinner; hidden bar; live hip hop.

6) (Adam) meeting Craig McKay and a few other award winning editors. Manhattan Edit Workshop was brilliant.

7) (Adam) Visiting Outpost Digital and @RADICAL MEDIA in NYC.

8) Best Coast Gig: meal at Supper before a packed fun gig at Webster Hall (the old Ritz)

9) (Gem) exploring all of the different neighbourhoods in south Manhattan: taking lots of photos, eating lots of food and hitting the shops.

10) Big day in New Orleans: brekkie of hot french doughnuts and coffee; drive around Katrina affected areas; a night filled with Bourbon Street shenanigans and live jazz at Frenchman Street.

11) Spurs vs Heat in San Antonio.

12) Riverwalk Tex-Mex in San Antonio

13) Chateau Marmont (LA) dinner and drinks.

14) Bike ride down the beach in LA: Santa Monica to Venice Beach.

15) Cabo San Lucas fun and games: Dolphin swim in the AM and then SPRING BREAK!! Big night out with Amber and Marcus...left us Spring Broken.

A big thanks again to all who joined us on this trip through this blog.

its a little sad to be leaving the States as we dig the sites and people (for the most part)...but we are definitely ready to go home. We miss our friends, family, animals and our home.

It has truly been an inspiring, fun, educational and...expensive adventure that has brought us closer together and provided us with a ton of great memories. Well worth the time and money! Now we're gearing up for the next big adventure - baby time.

Time for one last Starbiucks coffee and a doughnut before boarding ;)

cheers and love,

Ads and Gem x

RULE NUMBER 19

Amber & Marcus

View from our room

View from our room

Sneaky pic of Adam doing dolphin swim (no cameras were allowed)

Gem ready to go on the boat

Boat in the marina

Cabo San Lucas marina

Part of Cabo San Lucas

Boat ride

Fish through the glass bottom boat

One of the many sexy beaches along Cabo San Lucas

Land's End

Seals lazing on the rocks

Spring Break on the Cabo San Lucas beach...parties everywhere

Corona Car for Spring Break

Slim's Elbow Room (great Tequila bar) - Cabo San Lucas

Selection of Tequila's at Slim's Elbow Room

One of the great little taco places in Cabo San Lucas

One of the many Spring Break bars

Tacos Guss - BEST burritos and served by the sweetest girl (in the yellow)

Tacos Guss

View from the sun lounge at pool

View from the sun lounge at pool

Another view from the 'quiet' pool

View of sunset from our room

Dinner time

Dinner time

RULE NUMBER 19

HOLA FROM CABO SAN LUCAS

Hola Amigos,

we have taken time out from getting cocktails at the swim up pool bar to write this so I hope you appreciate it!! Well we are now on our last leg of a 3 month trip in America. Mexico is all that we expected...and perhaps a little bit more. We arrived on Sunday after about fours worth of travel and airport waiting. We flew American Airlines down to San Jose Del Cabo but you might as well call it Spring Break Airlines...I mean this plan was chock full of sub 23yo, loud, scantly clad animals waiting to cut loose Cabo style. I would be lying if i said there wasn't a small part of me that wanted to be on Spring Break too but I was snapped back to reality by my reflection in the mirror during a toilet stop as well as my patient and understanding wife.

Anyhoo, we got a transfer to the Dreams Resort which is halfway between San Jose and Cabo San Lucas on the tip of the Baja peninsular. Its a large, all inclusive (well, nearly all as it turns out) hotel with multiple pools (should that be multipool??), swim up bars, restaurants and cozy nooks. It's located right on the beach and our suite overlooks the main pool and through to the best part of that white sandy beach...VERY COOL. The grounds are manicured like most 5 star coastal resorts and the staff are very friendly and keen to serve. Overall the food in the resort is occasionally good and sometimes downright bad...but its always edible and the drinks are fine.

So, Sunday night was spent having a quiet dinner with some friends from Perth who are now residing in Melbourne, Amber and Marcus. They arrived the day before on the first leg of their trip to the US so it was great to crossover for a few days in good 'ol Me-hi-co. Anyway, we met up at one of the beach bars for a Corona before hitting the Italian restaurant for a 'classy' meal. Why Italian I hear you ask? Well, it seemed like the best option at the time and as it turned out the food was fairly good. We were kind of tired and my back was playing up so we had an early night after our nice 3 course meal and a bottle of wine.

Monday began with a massage for me and a chill out for Gem. The health Spa was a great way to loosen up the back a bit before we hit the buffet breakfast at the patio restaurant overlooking the beach. Breakfast here is a food highlight and for us it usually consists of cereal, fruit and yogurt for starters followed by one of the nicest omelettes I have ever had...filled with bacon, ham, mozzarella, spinich, onion and occasionally tomato. This egg bad boy is always enhanced by the ever present guocamole and salsa. It is awesome...and we usually add some Mexican potato thingy and toast to the mix.

Wow...that was a detailed breakdown of brekkie. After that feast we all jumped into a cab and headed into Cabo San Lucas for our dolphin adventure and a boat ride out to Lands End (Seal Rock, the natural formed arch and some very sexy beaches on the Sea of Cortez). First up - Cabo Dolphins. Gem had booked me in for a swim with the dolphins a while back....unfortunately she was not able to join me given her round state but she was able to have some time with the dolphins in a different encounter group. So, we jumped into some wetsuits and joined our groups for some serious marine fun. Gem was in the group that were able to interact with the dolphins by patting them, feeding them, getting a kiss from them, etc...all from the safety of the shallow area of the pool. My group did all of that and more whilst floating in the deep end of the pool. Despite having reservations of such beautiful animals being kept in captivity i was pretty stoked at being able to interact with these marine dudes in such a way. Its moving stuff for any animal lover. One of the dolphins (the oldest female!?!) took a bit of a fancy to me and kept rubbing up against me...not like dirty dancing grinding or anything...just a harmless, semi-romantic yet fully platonic connection. I was the last person to do the dorsal swim (you know - where you hold onto the dorsal fin like that kid and Flipper) and my cheeky dolphin decided to dive underwater with me still hanging on...it was not part of the normal experience and most people were a little shocked but it was totally awesome. I could have spent all day swimming around with those rubbery guys but it was time to jump in a boat and head out through the gorgeous marina.

After some skillful bargaining from Amber (who has a sassy Spanish tongue) we piled into a smallish, glass bottom boat (with a bunch of Latin American Spring Breakers and their many $1 beers) and cruised slowly out to the point. It was pretty cool actually...our 'skipper' was kinda funny (he reckons the many local pelicans are called Mexican chickens and can be found at KFC); the glass bottom boat revealed a great many colourful fish and the scenery was pretty impressive. Oh...one thing i forgot to mention...on the way out of the marina we saw all of these sport fishing boats coming in with MASSIVE seals basically standing on the dive boards getting fed fish from the fishermen. It was the oddest thing to see these seals hitching rides from these boats. There are also a crap load of very expensive mega yaughts in this area and one of them was Denzel Washington's.

After a siesta and some pool time we then met up with Amber and Marcus again for a big night out in Cabo - SPRIIIING BREAK!! WHOO HOOOOOO!! I will keep this short as i have just realised how long this blog is taking me...we basically walked around Cabo San Lucas having a drink or two at each venue before landing back in our beds at about 2:30am (not bad for my future yummy mummy). Highlights included: seeing hundreds of young people partying their heads off at many different bars and clubs; the clothing (or lack there of) being worn by almost all of the girls; watching the large groups of leathered, old people who refuse to give up the notion of Spring Break; the many fine tequila shots; and finally, the authentic and cheap tacos and burritos we had at two different cantinas along our nights travels. My meal in our late night feast (at 2am) consisted of some of the tastiest chicken burritos i have ever had and were served to us by the cutest little waitress. We assumed it was holidays for kids south of the border too because this little waitress looked about 8years old at the most. Yep, it was 2am and we were served traditional Mexican foods by an 8yo girl.

Tuesday was a chill out day. We had a late brekkie (see above) and then lounged by the pool like fat lizards. It was great to get some sunshine and relaxing in after our busy adventure. The day was only broken up by a gym visit and a little siesta before getting together with Amber and Marcus again for pre-dinner pool cocktails followed by some dinner and a few quiet night caps. We ate at the Ocean Grill restaurant set alongside one of the pools...like the rest of the evening eateries so far the food was ok, drinks good and the ambience great. Next stop was the open bar near the foyer which sits up high and includes a large fire pit that overlooks the pool and the ocean. Alarmingly we decided on Gin Martini's...and surprisingly they were pretty darn good. Next stop...starting to get sleepy by the way after staring into the large fire pit...the hotel nightclub which is called Desires. With a name like that it had to be bad and we were spot on...it S.U.C.K.E.D...so we decided to make a direct u-turn straight out before ordering anything. The night ended after a lazy game of billiards and a plan to meet up again for brekkie before our friends flew off to Texas.

Today was kinda slow. After seeing Amber and Marcus off we plopped back into bed and slept the morning away until a quick gym session and a swim before our couples spa treatment at 3:30pm. My massage was good...and painful (deep tissue) and Gem's pre-natal massage was relaxing but not amazing. The steam room in this hotel rocks! Dinner was at yet another restaurant set next yet another pool and this time the food was healthy and really tasty. Early night now as tomorrow we plan to spend the day sitting by the pool(s) reading and frolicking with all of the loud and surgically enhanced Americans. I have to mention one guy i saw today. He is white but his tan is so dark i honestly thought he was a dark Indian...with brilliantly awful blode tipped hair and an 80's style earring...oh...and a seedy thin mustache. It was only at closer inspection that i realised he was a standard white American with the darkest and leatherest (word?) skin i have ever seen. I chuckled to myself in disbelief. We call him Chocco.

Time for sleep now guys.

There is a strong chance this will be our last blog until we do a final re-cap back in Perth. The internet is not always accessible at the airports and tomorrow is a computer free day.

Hope all is well back home and we wish our now good friends Amber and Marcus well on their journey across the U.S and A.

Adios Amigos, mucho love x

Ads and Gem and ? xx

RULE NUMBER 18.

San Clemente

San Clemente

San Clemente - Beach Garden Cafe

San Clemente housing

San Clemente housing

San Clemente street

Gem at Urth Caffe

Adam at Urth Caffe

Urth Caffe

Driving through Beverly Hills

Hollywood

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Hugh Jackman at Grauman's Chinese Theatre (that's for you Marg)

Robata bar

Third Street Promenade shopping mall in Santa Monica

Adam on the bike ride

Muscle Beach - Venice

Basketball courts - Venice

Gem on the bike ride

Skaters at Venice

Venice Beach strip

Venice Beach graffiti

Sunset at Venice

Adam photographing Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park

Adam driving to Joshua Tree National Park

Wind farms on way to Joshua Tree National Park

Redneck car

Chica Custom Cycles

Bar Marmont

Dessert at Bar Marmont (Welcome to Hollywood cake...)

Whisky A Go Go

The Roxy

In-N-Out Burger

Venice

Pacific Park at Santa Monica pier

Santa Monica beach

Gem at Santa Monica pier

Ferris Wheel at Santa Monica

Rollercoaster at Santa Monica pier

Prizes!

Santa Monica beach

View from our hotel room

The Huntley Hotel

RULE NUMBER 18.

LA LA LAND.

hey there,

sorry for the delay on this update but we have had some issues with the hotel internet...its also friggin expensive. Anyhoo, we have now spent almost a week in LA so this update is gonna be a long one. i suggest you chuck on your snuggie and nestle in with a hot chocolate...

ok.

Monday was the drive up to LA from San Diego. Generally it's a few hours drive but we stopped by a few places we'd heard about to check out the scenery and turned into a more relaxed 5 hours. First up was San Clemente for lunch. This is the home of a very famous skate boarder, Ryan Sheckler, and its a bit of a talent pool for extreme sports athletes and surfers. It also happens to be one of the nicest little towns in California - beautiful clean surf beaches, palm trees, cool little dinners & cafes on the beach and some very cool street scapes and residential architecture (I love the Spanish influence in the Cal architecture). In this slow paced surfy town we had a great sandwich at the Beach Garden Cafe.

Next up was a cruise around Huntington Beach area of Orange County. Again, a pretty cool area but it does have some Rockingham kind of industrial action which is a bit of a turn off to me...there are a few oil rigs straight off the coast which is kind of weird to see. It's a part of the very ritzy Orange County though and is close to Laguna Beach and some other nice spots.

From here we made our way straight up to The Huntley Hotel in the heart of Santa Monica. We knew this place was above average but were shocked at the level of funk this hotel has...it is one very sexy hotel and our room has some fantastic views of LA...the Hollywood hills from the bathroom and south west ocean views from the main room. Wood panel dimly lit hallways, uber cool lighting and furnishings in the lobby and very polite staff all fighting for your approval (tip). Of course we fitted the bill perfectly as we rolled up in our Chevy Malibu (a Chevy version of a Camry) and parked next to an Aston Martin. Each day we valet the car we see Bentleys, Ferraris, Mercs, Lambos, Range Rovers...and our Malibu (our car does have a sun room if that helps).

Anyway, we were exhausted from the days travel so we tucked into some room service and sunk into the bed for the night. Next day, we rolled up to West Hollywood for lunch at Urth Caffe - a hot spot for young Hollywood types and a featured restaurant on shows like Entourage. It also happens to have some awesome food that is very healthy. The place was packed but we managed to score a table outside on the street which is the perfect to soak up some much needed sun and people watch. Don't think i saw one ugly person anywhere near the joint so they must have some kind of screening system (i snuck under the radar on that one!). From here we drove up to Grauman's Theatre and walked the stars along the strip - a strange and wonderful place and as it turns out I have the same size hands as Arnie. After that we rolled through Beverly Hills searching for some celebrity houses...to no avail. This great day was capped off with one of the meals of the trip - Robata Bar a few blocks down the road from our hotel in Santa Monica. I had a beer and a hot sake bottle and Gem had the water (a fine vintage!). Together we tucked into the Japanese tapas/skewers like we were sharks - tender steak, fried chicken, bacon wrapped prawns, eggplant...chomp chomp baby.

Wednesday started with a quick shop at the Third Street Promenade shopping area of Santa Monica. I bought some sneakers at the Puma store (for my ankles not for fashion) and Gem got some jeans. We also browsed a couple of excellent book stores in the area. After that we wandered down to the Santa Monica Pier to hire bikes and roll the boardwalk. This was a great experience in perfect weather...we got some old school Schwinn cruiser bikes and rode through Santa Monica and down to the very colourful Venice Beach area. Venice is straight up weird. Muscle Beach Gym is kinda freaky and there are more than a few oddballs walking around in their underwear soaking up the camera flashes...not to mention the smorgasbord of 'medical' marijuana shops. Anyway, we had a bite to eat, took some snaps of the skate park and then rode back up to Santa Monica. We ended up heading back down there at sunset to grab some cool video footage of the skaters and freaky deekys. We were pooped so that night was a quiet one in with a purchased movie (nothing untoward, just some good all american porn - joking of course!!).

Thursday started a little early - like stupid early. Basically we were both awake at 3:30am after a restless nights sleep, so we decided to shower up and hit the road east to Joshua Tree. We really had no idea what we were looking for...we just knew that Joshua Tree was a cool place of inspiration for a great many an artist, muso and...ummm...drug taking hippy. Its also the name of the second best U2 album. We also had no idea how long it would take to drive out there and as it turns out its not a short relaxing drive into the desert. Like many drives in LA its a cut throat assault on the senses and reflexes. There is a scene in the comedy movie LA Story where Steve Martin is driving the LA freeways with a hand gun out the window...shooting at the cars who are constantly cutting him off. Unfortunately i did not get my gun license before we left the hotel.

Anyway, after driving through the sunrise we finally arrived at the Joshua Tree National Park in the early afternoon...actually it was only 7:30am but it sure seemed like the afternoon to me. The landscape was awe inspiring - mountain ranges, rocky outcrops, desert flora and fauna...and our sexy Chevy Malibu cutting a swath right through the middle of it all. We explored a bit, took some photos (Gem stepped on a very spiny cactus) and then got really really tired. On the way home we tried to find Palm Springs but according to our ridiculously stupid navigation machine, it does not exist anymore. We got back to the hotel a little worse for wear...i cant even remember driving back...so we had a nap and then forced ourselves to go out to Monsoon - a Japanese restaurant nearby. Food was good and the beer nearly made me fall asleep in it.

Friday started with a hot brekkie down the road. My eggs florentine was ok but Gem's scrambled eggs were average. Gem then went shopping on her own and hit the Starbucks for some interweb time and a large strong coffee. I then made my way to a huge arty bookstore that specialises in architecture, design and rare books. I could have dropped thousands of benjamins in this place but ended up buying a book on LOFTS for $9.95...on sale from $45. I know, big spender.

Ange and Joff - I realise that it might seem somewhat controversial me buying a book on LOFTS given what happened with your book on LOFTS. I actually wanted to buy one for you guys too but there was only one left...I figure you can borrow and lose my LOFTS book when you come and visit. Sound fair?

That arvo was special for me. Gem had organised a visit to the Chica Custom Cycles factory without me knowing. For those who don't know...assuming that is everyone reading this...Chica is a legend bike builder who is based in Huntington Beach. He is also a great guy with a good sense of humour and a thick Japanese accent (despite living in the states for over 15 years). I loved it and if I had the cash I would most certainly add one of his bikes to my garage. Just need a spare $60k.

Friday night was our last special night in the USA so we decided to do it in style. About 2 months ago we made a booking at the Bar at Chateau Marmont restaurant (easily the most famous hotel in Los Angeles located on the Sunset strip)for dinner and drinks. Well, we certainly saved the best for last...this place is as cool as it gets and the food was some of the best we have ever had. No celeb sitings but we didn't care, this place is hard to get into and has a very exclusive look and feel. Despite everyone being super hot in this place, it was my wife that shone the brightest on this night (especially cheesy but also true). We had a great night.

Umm...ok thats about it. Today was spent doing chores like the weeks washing and posting more boxes back home but we also managed to get some more snaps of Venice and Santa Monica beach areas. There were a lot of loud mouthed black dudes playing pick up basketball games that were pretty funny to watch.

Tomorrow we head off to Mexico to have some serious R&R. We will blog again whilst down there and maybe once more before the long flight home. Its all coming to an end now and believe it or not, after 3 months away we are looking forward to being home again.

Bye for now, love Ads and Gem x