Day 16 – Hollywood & Heading Home

It was fairly easy to pack up this morning since most of it was done yesterday.  After breakfast, we loaded up the car and headed for Hollywood, since it was close to the airport.

We took the kids trough the Hollywood Wax Museum.  This was something the they wanted to do during our last trip to Hollywood, but we didn't have time.

It wasn’t worth the money, in our opinion.  It was ok but there was a large section of it devoted to horror films.  Had we known that, we probably would not have gone.  We just quickly walked through that section.  It was neat to see how tall, or not, some actors really are.  I was surprised at how tall Lucille Ball was, and Drew Barrymore.

Forrest Gump (one of my favorite movies ever)...

John Wayne (this one's for Grandpa)...

Charlie's Angels (look closely, Jason's in there!)... 

Bedtime Stories...

Ahhhhhhh......

Hollywood Blvd. was crawling with a bunch of people dressed in characters.  We saw Spongebob, Darth Vader, Spiderman, Tinkerbell, Shrek, and many others.  Around the Kodak Theatre, the girls and I went into the restroom and cat-woman was sitting on the countertop removing her costume and talking to herself very loudly!  She carried on and on about how she was the most beautiful and continued to throw out the f-word, so I quickly collected my girls and we bolted out of there to find another restroom!  That girl had to have been on something.

We took one final stroll up and down Hollywood Blvd. to kill some time before heading to the airport.  It was crowded today.  Lots of people were out doing the same thing. 

Kodak Theatre...

 Grauman's Chinese Theatre...

Downtown Hollywood looking down from an outdoor balcony at the Kodak Theatre...

The airport was uneventful.  People complain about the LAX airport saying they don’t like dealing with it.  But our experience was good.  Moving through security wasn’t too bad and it was easy to get to our terminal.

Before we boarded the plane (the red eye), Katie said she was going to stay up all night.  She didn’t even make it off the runway!  The flight took off toward the ocean, so we flew over the Pacific for a few minutes before turning.  It was neat to see the outline of the coast.  Having only seen it on maps, seeing it from a plane was remarkable.  And since it was dark, Los Angeles looked like a sea of lights.  Emily asked why some areas were so dark and thought that maybe those areas were water.  But, they were actually mountains.  Lots of them.  That would have been a neat thing to see in the daytime.  We were seated in the center of the plane on the way out, so we didn’t get to see the mountains from the air at all.

This was a fantastic trip!

Day 15 – Preparing for Home

We’ve made ourselves quite comfortable here which means that every nook and cranny must be checked before we go.  And since our time left here is short, packing must be done.  Boo!!! 

The American Girl purchases are consuming space in our luggage, so we boxed up some things to ship back home today.  We went ahead and packed our luggage to make sure everything would fit.  This turned out to be a huge relief.  We were able to enjoy the rest of the day and evening and will be able to easily get moving in the morning.  We have until noon to check out and we’ll probably use that time to the fullest and maybe even fit in one last swim before we go.

We did a couple loads of laundry today, which should have been done a week ago.  We swam and played tennis for a little while...

 ...and then enjoyed a meal at the Rainforest Café.  The kids thought that was the coolest restaurant ever!  It was definitely a fun, relaxing, and memorable day.

Day 14 – Anaheim & Newport Beach

Jason had a meeting in Anaheim today.  When he first told me about going to Anaheim, I asked him what was there for the kids and me to do during his meeting.  Little did I know that Anaheim is where Disneyland is!  Had I known that we were so close to Disneyland, I might have planned a visit there.  But, since we are flying home in two days, there's no time for it.

We went to Downtown Disney and walked around.

Waiting for a funnel cake...

We even peaked in through the entrance gate and snapped a quick picture.  (Don't worry, the kids aren't scarred for life having not gone in!)

Emily wasn’t impressed and didn’t have much interest in going.  Katie wanted to do it all!  She wanted to go in the park, she wanted her hair done like a princess, and she wanted to buy everything she saw!  I’m praying for her future husband!

Once we met back up with Jason, we went back to Downtown Disney for a little while, and then we drove to Newport Beach to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean from the pier.

While we were there, a man caught a sand shark and I was able to snap a picture...

(I'd like to say this is me holding the shark, but clearly, it is not!)

The sunset was beautiful...

We ate dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  It was delicious - really great shrimp!  And the atmosphere was fun!

Katie posed with Mr. Shrimp for a picture...

Day 13 – California Science Center & Hollywood

Driving through downtown L.A. to get to the California Science Center was less than fun.  But, I did it and we made it there safely.  All I can say is that I’m thankful for the invention of GPS!

The Science Center was great for a free thing to do.  It is much smaller than other science museums that we’ve toured through.

I’m always surprised at how much the kids take in during museum tours.  During a visit, they are often quiet or don’t show much interest.  But when they share their experience with others, they remember way more than I do, and with greater detail!

While telling Jason about astronauts, Katie remembered that after returning from space, an astronaut’s heart rate will increase and they often faint.  This is due to the change of gravity and how the heart (blood pressure) reacts to it.

Emily was fascinated with the planes and how speed and air pressure forces and controls flight.

Inside the wind tunnel...

They climbed into a real helicopter…

It was a short drive to Hollywood Blvd. from the Science Center, so we decided to go there next.  But before parking, we took a detour.  Even though I had already gotten a good picture of the Hollywood sign last week, today’s clear blue sky drew me back to it!  It was well worth the trek up the mountain.   The research I had done earlier in the week paid off because we were able to get closer than before.   The roads up the mountain became more narrow and curvy as we elevated.   When we came to the end of the road (literally – we were as far up as we could go), we parked, got out, and stood in awe of how close we actually were!  The kids were proud of me for driving up there!

After what would be our last trip to the sign, I drove to and parked just off of Hollywood Blvd. so that we could take what we thought would be one last stroll down the “walk of fame.”  We were on the hunt for some souvenirs.  We walked into the Hollywood Wax Museum’s gift shop and noticed some all too familiar figures standing on one side…

Seeing this made us all want to go in to see more.  But there was no time that day.  I knew that driving back to the hotel would be a nightmare, so we had to get moving.

There’s no way I would live or work in L.A.  It took us over 2-1/2 hours to drive back to the hotel!  The traffic was just insane.  Thankfully, I had taken snacks, water, and ice in a small cooler because we were really hungry.  We didn’t make it back to the hotel until 8:00 and then we went out for pizza.  We just brought it back to the hotel to eat.

It was an ok day.  Not my favorite, but not too bad either.

I’ll end this entry with a little historical fact.  When placed on the side of hill, the Hollywood sign originally read “Hollywoodland” which was the name of the real estate development on top the hill.  The company was trying to entice buyers and advertised the area by placing the 50-foot tall letters on the side of the hill.  Some years later, “land” was removed from the sign and it became the well-known icon that it is today.

Day 12 - Swimming!

The plan to go to Anaheim today fell through, so the kids and I spent the day at the pool while Jason worked.  I'm feeling very well balanced here in California.  Warm sunshine and pool by day and cooler air with hot chocolate by night.  Ahhhh.......

Day 11 - Ghost Town in Calico, CA

We drove about 60 miles into the desert, toward Las Vegas, to Calico, a ghost town.  There is one original building still standing, and many silver and gold mines.  We all had a great experience here.

We shopped...

The kids panned for gold...

We climbed a lot...

Tucked ourselves inside the miners' shacks...

Rode a train...

The train ride took us around the outside of the town where some 80 homes once stood.  The only remnance left was a small stone wall.

We walked through a mine...

...and came back up.

We walked across the foot bridge to the schoolhouse...

The outhouse was down the hill behind the schoolhouse.  I told Katie how an outhouse works and she thought that was gross!

.
Then we ate...

Once we returned to our hotel, we swam and played games in the pool.  Emily said she loved our family time together!

Day 10 - Relaxation

There’s not much to say about today.  We went to an “open air market.”  Turns out, it was a Mexican flea market!  It was a cultural experience for all of us!  After much walking, we left with only a bag of kettle corn.

Jason picked up his cookies from Marie Callendars (yes, he ordered them yesterday to ensure he would get some!).  The kids swam.  I took a poolside nap while Jason played tennis with the kids.  Emily and I went shopping at the JC Penny Outlet Store, finding many bargains.  And we picked up Jack-in-the-Box for dinner on the way back.