Southern California Roadtrip (April 17-21)

April 17th: San Diego was beautiful. I explored Mission Beach, toured San Diego Zoo, and met up with friend Adrienne (see posts regarding crossing the United States!!!) for an exciting night of Indian food and partying at the Hard Rock Cafe Hotel. The outfits at the Hard Rock Cafe were amazing--I was vastly underdressed in my very best travel "nice" outfit.



The Meerkats were just as cute as they appear on TV.

April 18th: After dropping Adrienne off at the airport, I drove up the highway 1 to Santa Monica Pier where I had that free night in the Holiday Inn Express. I love Holiday Inn- they gave me a great ocean view that also had a view of the pier at night- I watched the ferris wheel change colors for awhile the night I arrived. I explored the pier, rode the roller coaster and the ferris wheel, wandered and took pictures, then headed up to the promenade to enjoy the street shows. There were some people set up to salsa in the street, magic shows, solo musicians, acts... it was great. I landed in a tiny restaurant (my favorite type) called Manchego which turned out to be everything I hope dining alone will be. And in dining alone, I mean sitting at a bar having a fascinating conversation with a German girl who is working for a studio as a casting agent assistant and a fellow who was an out of work actor. The food was great- I don't remember everything but there were goat cheese stuffed figs and bacon wrapped scallops and that was enough! I wandered home after dark, slightly fuzzy and excited about finally seeing Hollywood the next day.





April 19th: I drove into LA and rushed to Warner Brother Studio for the VIP tour. I had read on the website that you should buy your tickets ahead of time or risk not getting one. I had not planned ahead but was able to jump on the next tour. I highly recommend it-- we toured the back studio on a small golf cart with about 10 other tourists, wandered the set of the Mentalist, touched the walls of the set used for the musical ANNIE, which was also used for the main street scene for FRIENDS and a whole bunch of other shows. We also stopped by a small museum which housed a whole floor dedicated to Harry Potter (I was sorted into Slytherin) and another floor with costumes ranging from the Matrix to Edward Scissorhands. We saw the golf cart belonging to Mr. Lopez (it had sparkles) and the set for Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a wonderful tour--one of the best and most informative I've ever been on. I was sad to inform my parents that they were truly disassembling the set for Two and a Half Men (it had not been officially cancelled yet, but the set was being torn down).





After the studio tour, I became star struck and headed down to Hollywood to walk the star path and place my hands in the handprints at the Chinese Theater. My favorite handprints included the Harry Potter cast (of course), Shirley Temple, John Wayne, Douglas Fairbanks...and R2D2. I finished my star gazing with a massage at a nearby hotel- the spa entrance fee allowed me access to the roof for views of the area and it felt right to get a massage in Hollywood. :-)





April 20th: I went to Disneyland and California Adventures. Yes it was smaller than Disney World (which I grew up going to); yes I liked it anyway. If you were planning a trip to Calfornia I'd recommend the Warner Brother Studios and a drive up the PCH-- but if you have excess time then a trip to California Adventures would certainly be fun. I had fun. Holiday Inn Express wow'd me again with a free upgrade to the whirlpool suite and a cheaper price than I was expecting for a hotel within a 15 minute walk to Disney. The night ended in Fireworks and a churro (as all nights should).

April 21: I drove back to reality, through the rain, up Hwy 5. It was dreary. It was done.