Oak Tree Gun Club Shootin'

On our 2nd day, we drove out of the city leaving glamorous Hollywood behind.

Tom has been wanting to take me shooting ever since our American trip was booked.

We found a gun club  not far from LA and headed to hang out with some locals.

But first, coffee.

Iced coffee.

This is literally all I've been drinking since I landed in LA.

That, and green juice. They just seem to have the whole healthy lifestyle sorted in LA.

I know the US gets a bad rep for having one of the most overweight populations in the world, but they make leading a healthy lifestyle over here so easy! Only if you want to...

You just have to choose the right things on the menu.

We drove out of the city and stopped off at a random Denny's in the middle of nowhere.

In a country where pancakes waffles and French toast are all on the menu for breakfast, I opted for the healthy option. 

I might be on holiday but I'm not out of bikini season yet!

I couldn't resist a sip of his milkshake though....

The Milkshake was standard. Nothing to rave about. I never considered Vanilla milkshakes to be a truly exciting.

What was impressive was the fact our waiter brought us the leftover milkshake from the bottom of the blender.

You know when you are making a smoothie or a milkshake and you annoyingly don't quite calculate the right amount to fit in the glass? You get left over smoothie which you have to drink so as not to waste or make another smoothie with the leftovers?

Well I always imagined restaurants would re-use it or throw it away, but our waiter was honest and actually brought us the leftovers.

There was enough there for another full milkshake!

The omelette was so BIG! And I didn't even touch the potato hash-browns... 

I felt so bad for leaving so much food. I order a take-away box, but deep down I knew I wouldn't get a chance to eat it... I just couldn't bare the thought of leaving so much waste at the restaurant. Right? Do you get me? Has this happened to you before?

Having been brought up to "finish my plate" (which I think is part of the reason why I was so chubby as a kid, but let's not get in to that right now!), I was definitely going to struggle in 'Murica!

A short drive away was Oak Tree, where we were greeted by a couple of cuties. 

They were chilling in the sun completely un-phased by the loud bangs around them which had me jumping in my boots every time a shot was fired. 

First we stopped by the handgun station. 

I've never seen a handgun in real life so I was a bit shaky. Even with ear defenders it was so loud and I jumped every time someone pulled the trigger. 

I let him go first, so I could pick up a few pointers. 

Shooting a mixture of targets in an open field. 

Then it was my turn. 

I was absolutely petrified when I picked up the gun. The ranger guided me through it. 

Once he thought I was ready, I pulled the trigger and shot the target. 

First time! 

Then I shot the target again.

I was just thinking I was back in the Spanish feria shooting targets with my dad to win teddy bears.

Except this machine could do a whole lot more damage!

We then moved on to a more solitary range to shoot a Dessert Eagle, which is one of the biggest handguns you could own. So it needed to be shot separately.

The ranger cleared the playing field and let us go forward to place our target. 

Once it was all clear we were allowed to start shooting.  

This one was a lot heavier and the recoil was a little more than I'd expected. 

The ranger told me he was impressed I hadn't whacked myself in the head with the gun with the amount of recoil on it at which point I thought it would best we go back to the general range.  

This time we opted for an

A much smaller gun which was easier to use. 

Tom showed me how to load and set up the handgun and I was amazed by how easy it actually was. 

It made me even more scared to think that a mere idiot could load one of these things. 

After the morning's activities, the rangers recommended we go try out the rifle range which opened at noon. 

The guns there were bigger and heavier, which meant less recoil. They were also more like the guns I have been accustomed to shoot back home. 

I must say regardless of our shooting activities, I would never go on an animal hunt. I am too much of an animal lover and so is Tom. We were strictly shooting targets and no animals were harmed at all. 

I was more fascinated with partaking in a local activity and doing as locals do. 

Rifle shooting requires much more precision.

You balance your gun on a tripod, aim for the target through your scope and fire. 

I was surprised by how relaxed the folk were about us handling and loading or own guns. 

The rangers were on hand to help if we needed it, but mostly they let us get on with it. 

I didn't leave feeling any more relaxed. It is still quite a scary sport but I was definitely living up to my true tomboy-ish ways. Hopefully my dad, brother & boyfriend can be impressed!

How about you? Have you had any experience shooting in the US? What was it like?