Day 5 - On to Anaheim

We were up and checked out of our hotel early for the trip onwards to Anaheim. Because it was actually cheaper than a taxi, we piled into a limo to travel in style to the car rental place at the airport. 

It was with a heavy heart and a wish to stay just a bit longer that we made our way out of Las Vegas and onto the freeway back towards LA, guided by the GPS – this one nicknamed Sammy. Having daylight for our journey through the desert this time, we saw little but vast expanses of brown, some more brown, and a few brown rocks and hills. 

As we travelled on, billboards started appearing to let us know that Peggy Sue’s  50s Diner was coming up ahead. Then more. And more. And more again.

By the time we’d passed maybe our twentieth ‘Peggy Sue’s 50s Diner’ reminder billboard, Emma drily suggested that maybe we should stop at Peggy Sue’s 50s Diner. Thus, we did. 

The place was huge, and packed – far more packed than its location in the middle of the desert, with nothing else for miles around it, would have suggested. I guess the billboards worked on them too. 

After buying Marilyn Monroe’s drivers licence and having my photo taken with a cardboard cutout of Elvis, we were on our way again. All was well until we were nearing LA, and everyone started driving like maniacs, swerving across lanes without indicating, forcing gaps where no gaps existed (at high speed!) Apparently they’re well known for it. 

After a bit of confusion about where the car rental place was (we’d chosen the address as Orange instead of Anaheim, and consequently ended up a few minutes’ drive from where we meant to) we made it there alive and sadly parted ways with Keely, who was going on to LA. One of the staff offered to drop us off at our hotel rather than us taking a taxi. It turned out she had spent some time in NZ during the world cup, and she cracked us up with her accounts of trying to get herself arrested by good-looking Kiwi cops. 

We dumped our bags at the hotel and went in search of Emma’s parents and Nigel’s daughter. After wandering around the Sheraton across the road for a bit, it occurred to us that we might be at the wrong one (which, sure enough, we were). So we jumped in a cab across to the right one, and spent the afternoon lounging by the pool, followed by a leisurely dinner at an Indian place down the road. They didn’t have Sauv either, and the bubbly we ended up with tasted a bit like Chardon, but on the plus side it was only $12 a bottle. 

Then on back to the hotel we went, to rest ourselves up to tackle Disneyland.