[shamoo]

Last week, I took a 1 week vacation to Southern California to visit some family. Here are some pics of the trip. Nothing as exciting as my Philippine travel pics, but they will have to do for now.

These were taken by a Canon 7D w/24-70mm f/2.8L. One or two were taken with a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS. Still learning, so at times the exposure isn't perfect. Also learning the powers of Photoshop. It's quite an amazing program. I'm such a noob.

I enjoy commentary too, so if you don't want to be bored, just scroll.

In the order they were snapped...

First day in beautiful Southern California. Heading to my cousin's new condo.



He took me for a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway. This was the Laguna Beach area I think. Definitely a wealthy area.





Must be nice!



The very next day, we headed to Las Vegas. I haven't been to Vegas since I was ~15 years old. Everyone was saying that it's very different and they were right.

Saw the Eibach building on the way and thought that was cool. Don't mind that light "smudge" on the left, it's a reflection from the window.



For the next 3 hours, this is pretty much all I saw. I wish I had my car, I didn't see a single cop the entire way. I could have easily topped out the M here.



Almost there...



Looking to the left and right, were mountains and desert.



Coming up to the first town in Nevada.



Obviously the family had to stop here to shop.



Finally!



Restaurant at the Mandalay Bay, where my family stayed. I stayed at the Venetian with my cousin.



Taking a tour down the strip on the first night.







Are you a safe driver?





Impressive hallway at the Venetian.





Hard to get a chance to be in a photo since I'm always holding the camera.



Getting the party started early in the hotel room before heading out for the evening.





ZOMG! Am I in Venice?



My cousin and his mom/dad.







The shoes on the left were $995, and they were on sale. What a deal, y0!



The mom.













When we left, we stopped at the new City Center. I saw this place being built on Discovery Channel. I really liked the architecture inside and out.













Now heading to the Hoover Dam roughly 45 minutes away.



My cam + lens + hood just fit in that black square. Not sure if this rule is actually enforced since there were a ton of people with bigger lenses.



None of this stuff was here 15 years ago. Now you have to pay like $7 to park and some other fee to take a tour. Lame.



My cousin.



I swear I saw these things in a movie somewhere. It's all I think about when I see these things. Like they were guarding some fantasy/mythical city or something.





No kidding. I say if you're dumb enough to climb on here and fall, you deserve it.



I hear Megatron is buried under here.





Megatron, are you in there?



Mom and her sister.



Cousin, and his mom/dad.







My cousin's dad/my uncle had a heart attack the last day I was there. He's okay now though. Pretty scary since we all remembered him as being so strong and healthy.



Higher side of the dam.







Okay, Disneyland time! It's also been ~15 years since I came here too. Lots of new stuff.

The store prior to entering the park made me feel like a kid again. This put those stupid mall Disney Stores to shame. My cousin works for Disneyland so we all got in for free! Otherwise the park entrance is ~$85 or something and another $14 for parking.







So do I look like Johnny Depp or what?



So they don't have my name "Ahmed"? I'm shocked!







Snapped this as I was walking by without thinking. Came out neat.



California Adventure. This was new to me.







Inside the ride Soaring over California. One of the few rides my mom would actually go on.







I always have the most dumb expressions on those ride cameras.













The famous castle thing.





On the Jungle Cruise ride.



Tarzan's Treehouse.



It's a Small World ride.



All I could think of when entering this tunnel was that cartoon (Simpsons or Family Guy, I forgot) where all the children were made slaves and singing inside the ride.



ZOMG slave children!!



Moar slave children!







Another new attraction for me. The Tower of Terror.



Look at my smug expression. I wasn't prepared for the sudden freefall, so about 0.0002 seconds later my heavy DLSR smacked me in the face.







My mom, her mom, and her sisters. My grandma is close to 100 years old. It's been over 10 years since I saw her and now she can hardly walk. My mom and her sisters took 2 months off of work to be with her.





Well, hope you all enjoyed. Nothing exciting really, but posting pics is fun, y0! Back to work tomorrow.

[Chewy734]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us... looks like you had a lot of fun! The Venetian is pretty cool, and had one of my favorite restaurants in there too. I'm glad to hear that your uncle is feeling better now.

[Mr Tonka]

i love the comments! Pics are great too!

[Wckd]

""I swear I saw these things in a movie somewhere. It's all I think about when I see these things. Like they were guarding some fantasy/mythical city or something.""

Probably from the never ending story

http://eriswish.files.wordpress.com/...gstorygate.jpg

[BillLee]

cool pictures, looks like fun.

[sb335is]

nice pictures. that taco bell on cleo street is shit. smells like ass in there, my head almost hits the ceiling, never any parking, and worst part, theres no bathroom.

i mean, its a taco bell.... 90% of the people there have to shit before they even leave.

[remmib]

Great pics and great write-up.

[hipnotic]

nice pictures

[JC_Sonic]

nice pics...... +1

[DarkRider23]

Originally Posted by Wckd

""I swear I saw these things in a movie somewhere. It's all I think about when I see these things. Like they were guarding some fantasy/mythical city or something.""

Probably from the never ending story

http://eriswish.files.wordpress.com/...gstorygate.jpg

I was thinking Indiana Jones...