I thought I'd start out with this picture of my mom in the airport. This was taken on our way home waiting for our redeye out of LA. How did she get SO tired you may ask?? You'll see!
After Hollywood Blvd, we went out for some mexican and margaritas. The food was ok but it was a new restaurant so the service was horrible. But since it was a grand opening, everything was half off, so we couldn't really complain. After dinner we walked down Sunset Blvd and went to a comedy show at the Laugh Factory. We got there really early and were the second ones in line at the door. We thought that meant we would get the best seats in the house, but it didn't quite work out that way. Apparently they seat people from the front to the back and you have no option, so we ended up in the very first row. We were scared that we would be harassed by the comedians but it wasn't that bad.
Santa Monica Pier
DAY 1 - Hollywood Boulevard
We flew in Friday night after work and went straight to the hotel to rest up. First thing Saturday morning (ok, not FIRST thing, more like around 11ish, this was a VACATION) my brother picked us up from the hotel and we went down to Hollywood Blvd for the must-do tourist stuff.
There isn't really a ton to see on Hollywood Blvd, its pretty hyped up and touristy but it was still neat to see the stars on the sidewalk and some of the famous venues like the Kodak and Chinese Theater. It was also kinda fun to see the crazy people that dress up like characters just to take pictures from tourists and beg for money. There is actually a pretty good documentary about the people who do that called "Confessions of a Superhero." You can watch the trailer here for an idea of what they are like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlaHeASLq9A
Here is my brother, mom, and I in front of the Chinese theater. We didn't want to pose with the crazies.
After walking up and down the strip for over an hour, we got a little hungry and decided to stop into the Disney Soda Shop for lunch. But instead of getting lunch we just ate ice cream. We figured we might as well, we were on vacation! You can see pictures of our delicious desserts in the slideshow. I ordered a chocolate banana covered in nuts. Thats about as healthy as dessert lunch gets! They also had a special order called Mickey's something or other. It had 8 giant scoops of ice cream, whip cream, chocolate, caramel, marshmellow cream, cherries, and all sorts of other stuff all served on the Mickey hat from Fantasia. One family of 5 ordered it and they made a big deal about it in the restaurant. I was a little grossed out, but it was fun.
Comedy Show at the Laugh Factory
After Hollywood Blvd, we went out for some mexican and margaritas. The food was ok but it was a new restaurant so the service was horrible. But since it was a grand opening, everything was half off, so we couldn't really complain. After dinner we walked down Sunset Blvd and went to a comedy show at the Laugh Factory. We got there really early and were the second ones in line at the door. We thought that meant we would get the best seats in the house, but it didn't quite work out that way. Apparently they seat people from the front to the back and you have no option, so we ended up in the very first row. We were scared that we would be harassed by the comedians but it wasn't that bad.
There were four comedians and most of them were really funny. I can't remember most of their names but the one in the picture below was Jeff Grolin. He is on the show Curb Your Enthusiasm which is by the creator of Seinfield. He was really funny. You can see how close we were from the picture.
We made it through almost the entire show without being made fun of, but the LAST comedian in his LAST 10 mins got us. He said the four of us all looked like a family and so my mom explained our relationship. Then he said that Joey looked like her son, not my husband. So my mom said "Well, we are from Georgia" which got a laugh from the audience. It could've been worse...
Overall, the show was really good and we all had a really great time. We were exhausted though so we headed back to the hotel for a good night's rest.
DAY 2 - In n Out Burger
Sunday morning we lounged around the hotel a little bit just chatting and enjoying breakfast before setting out for another day's adventure. Our first stop was the infamous In-n-Out Burger, home to the secret menu (which you can see here http://www.in-n-out.com/secretmenu.asp). The only items on the menu are a hamburger, cheeserburger, double double (double cheeseburger with double cheese), and fries. BUT if you are a west coast insider, you know you can also order things in special ways - like "protein style" is without a bun wrapped in lettuce, or you can get a triple triple, or you can order your fries "animal style" which is my brother's personal favorite. Animal style means your fries are covered in their special "spread" which is like thousand island mayonnaisey stuff, grilled onions, and melted cheese. Doesn't that just sound like a heartattack on a plate?? Yuck! But of course, Joey had to order it and even he thought it was too much. You can see for yourself below. I have more pictures in the slideshow. For the record, I did not eat anything animal style!
Runyon Canyon Park Hike
After such an energy-packed lunch, we needed to go burn some of it! So we went to Runyon Canyon Park, my absolute favorite LA spot. It is this amazing park in the middle of the city where you can hike up to the top of a hill and see the whole city. It is so cool up there. Apparently lots of celebrities hang out up there too. We saw one of the guys from Ocean's Eleven with his dog. (I know, VERY exciting..)
Here is a picture of us up at the top. You can see the Hollywood sign in the back if you look closely. I was really proud of my mom, she made it all the way up and it was steep at parts. It was a little bit of a tough hike down too, but she made it!
We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at Jason's apartment. He is in a pretty nice place where he has his own room and bathroom. Since he's been in LA he's stayed in all sorts of crappy places. His first place was a porch, his second was a partitioned off section of a living room in a one-bedroom apt, and his third was a 3 bedroom house with like 12 guys living in it and he was sleeping on an army cot. So finally hes just living with one other guy in a place that is new, clean, and spacious. I'm so happy for him! Although he is still only sleeping on an air mattress and could use some help with decor...But I guess that's the lifestyle struggling actors have to live!
Jason was unable to get Sunday night off work from Olive Garden so we decided to go in with him and test his service. We had a nice dinner and it was fun seeing my brother's lifestyle. My mom was absolutely worn out from the hike so we left after dinner and let her go to bed early. Here is Jason showing us a sample of their house red. We bought the bottle, he was very convincing.
DAY 3 - Warner Bros Studio Tour
On our last day, we wanted to see some of the Hollywood movie studios. We decided to tour the Warner Bros Studio. It was a 2-hr tour that took us all over the lot to see how movies and tv are made. We saw a couple of their different studios where a lot of things are filmed. One was the generic city set where movies like Minority Report, Spiderman, and a million others had been filmed. The second set was the all american small town where shows like Gilmore Girls film.
Then we went into one of the big sounds stages where they build specialty sets for shows and movies. The one we went in was HUGE. He said it was like the largest in the US. It turns out those sets are also water tanks and for some movies they fill them with water and build boats in them (like in Goonies for the pirate scene.) It was really neat.
Then we saw some of the famous cars and props from movies like Harry Potter, Batman, Grand Torino, Matrix, and more.
It was really cool to see that stuff behind the scenes. I won't look at movies the same way for a while. As a souvenir we got a group picture in front of the green screen (which can be found in the slideshow)
Here is a picture of Joey, Jason, and I after the tour with daffy.
Next on the list was the beach. We went out to Santa Monica Pier right around sunset. It was beautiful. We had a delicious churro, walked around a bit, and played in the arcade. Jason triumphed over Joey in a very competitive game of air hockey. My mom and I both tried beating Jason but both games were a massacre. I guess Jason holds the family air hockey title for now. I'm sure Joey will challenge him again next time.
To round out the trip we went bowling before heading to the airport. I'm not a huge fan of bowling, I usually find that after the first game I'm terrible and my arm gets tired (I know, I'm such a wimp) but I was ON FIRE Monday night. I had a closed game the first 4 frames. I fell off after that but I still ended up winning. That's right, I even beat Joey!! HA! That'll never happen again!
And that pretty much brings us back to my mom passed out at the airport. We took the redeye home and went straight to work Tuesday, which was pretty rough. All in all though, a great weekend with a lot of great memories!
Take a look at the full slideshow below! ENJOY!
Click on the slideshow for the full size album.
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