Wednesday February 21st (Happy Birthday Dad!)
We left cold
But
We attempted (or rather, thought about) taking photos of Bryan’s aunt, Joy, lives right off Hollywood Boulevard, two blocks from the famous Groman’s Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre (where the Academy Awards were taking place that week), and lots of other cool L.A. landmarks. Plus, you can buy hard alcohol in drug stores!
The Knitting Factory is on the corner of Joy’s block.
The lineup for tonight is Elliot Smith and N.W.A.!!
We walked over the stars with stars’ names
and ran into Chewbacca!
Apparently, many people dress up to finagle cash from tourists. We were tourists and gave up two whole dollars to get a photo with Chewy. There was also Homer Simpson, a silver-painted guy, and a super tall devil with huge wings. We did not give them money. However, joke’s on them because if you look closely at the far away pics of Groman’s, they’re in the photo!
The Hollywood sign is on the hills behind us, the real reason we took this picture.
Randomly, we bumped into my cousins on Hollywood Boulevard who were enjoying their school break (they live on Long Island! And we in Los Angeles! When I was there! Crazy!).
Pretending to be glamorous movie stars, we walked the (plastic-covered) red carpet inside the Kodak Theatre and our struts were so fine, they gave all three of us Oscars!
I actually won two:
"Best Girlfriend" and "Best Body"
To celebrate, we took a nice hike through Runyon Canyon. Not showering and traveling on a plane for six hours makes me look like this:
At least the flowers are pretty.
When we got home, Joy cooked a most fabulous dinner.
Bryan and I underlined our party animalness by falling asleep around 11. But to our credit, our
Thursday February 22nd
Esta-Joy’s kitchen!
and porch!
It was rainy today. Los Angelinos cursed us for bring the crappy east coast weather their way. Still warmer than
We had a fabulous breakfast at The Griddle, where the pancakes are the size of dinner plates.
We sat across from a short-haired now-blonde Selma Blair and I disappointed myself by not recognizing Ian Ziering (Steve from 90210). Joy said he's at the Griddle all the time. He seemed sweet as he helped his grandfather (father?) out of the restaurant. Joy wished him luck on dancing with the stars.
We drove around the spectacular Hollywood Hills and gawked at people’s homes. Sharon Tate's house doesn’t exist any more, but we speculated about the wooded lot where it would have been and got creeped out by the fact that Charles Manson once stood there with those weirdo girls, mulling over their devious plan.
We tried going to the Observatory, but you can’t park by it anymore. There are now buses that pick you up aaaaaallllll the waaaaaayyyyy dooowwwwnnnn the curvy drive, which you need reservations to get on. We decided against walking back up the drive since I was wearing extremely sensible boots.
Before we took off,
It’s a bigger tree than what made it into the frame of the photo. That would be horrible (and slightly hilarious) had the tree been the weed-looking branch at the left of the stone.
There’s a great view of the famous
We also went down the Sunset Strip, passed by “hipster” neighborhood Silverlake, took in the Chateau Marmont (where all those
That night we had dinner at fabulous Pace (pronounced "pah-chay") with Joy and her friend Pat. Great conversation and incredible Italian food. We also drank Bryan's uncle's yummy wine, Antica Terra. Pat claimed he saw Madonna walk by. We didn't believe him.
Friday February 23rd
We drove up the coast on awesome Highway One!
Destination: San Francisco!
We stopped at Piedras Blancas to gaze upon the quite unreasonable elephant seals. Although it's elephant seal mating season, they're didn't do much besides lay on the beach. Sometimes the females let out odd shrieks. The wind was so strong, I had trouble opening the car door.
After about nine hours, we finally made it to my brother's house.
My brother, his wife, and son live in Discovery Bay, about an hour east of San Fran. The hundreds of windmills that power Discovery Bay and surrounding neighborhoods give the landscape a futuristic feel. There's also hundreds of cows milling around.
Saturday February 24th
We spent the day in San Fran. We lucked out on having beautiful weather. It had rained that morning but by the time we got into the city, the sky was sunny and blue.
Spending time with Caden was amazing. He's such a delight. He would point out the cows and say "Moo!"
We drove over the Bay Bridge and onto Treasure Island for a fantastic view of the city.
We walked around Fisherman's Warf.
There were cool metal people and sea lions.
I had Caden and Tim pose in front of Alcatraz! The Rock!
One day I will take the tour.....
Bag of candy!
We went to Ghirardelli Square (of course!) to get some awesome chocolate
Then we checked out some trolleys (insert Rice-a-Roni joke here)
We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge
Windy!
The bridge looks crazy close from North Vista Point
I was almost blown into the bay!
Good thing this tree caught me.
There was an old military fort from WWII
Tim and Bryan hung out with the buffalo in Golden Gate Park
Neat-O flower clock
Golden Gate Park is massive so we only spent a short time on the trails.
I'm a poser
We drove through the Haight, downtown, Nob Hill, Chinatown, and Cow Hollow.
Oh, San Fran, how you shame me with your cool.
The photos below won't do justice to famous Lombard street.
As we were driving up a big hill and stopped at a stop sign it felt like we would flip backward.
The curves going down were crazier than Big Sur!
Sunday February 25th
For the drive back to L.A., we decided to swap head gear.
The shortest route from San Fran to L.A. is Highway 5.
No ocean views, but interesting landscapes nonetheless.
We stopped at the Apricot Tree Diner in Firebaugh, which is right outside Fresno. The whole place was lined with awesome vintage lunchboxes and thermuses (thermusi?).
I recommend the apricot pie. Yum!
On the road again......
The last hour was rough. I wanted to stop driving!!
Since Joy lives right around the corner from where the Oscars are taking place, we decided to watch the broadcast at her friend's place in Pasadena and wait out the insanity.
This is the only photo we took in Pasadena.
We're a sophisticated bunch.
Monday February 26th
We veg out in style on our last day in L.A. and go see Bridge to Terabithia at El Capitan theater on Hollywood Boulevard. The movie is sweet, very well done, and makes all three of us shed tears. The theater is incredible, ornate ceilings, plush balconies, a giant organ. Joy said they sometimes perform live stage shows along with movies.
Tuesday February 27th
We had a 7:45am flight to New York. We got lost returning the rental car and missed our flight. We get booked on a 12:55 flight and spend the time eating crappy, expensive airport food, checking out tall women, and ruminating on how if a relationship can survive long roadtrips plus lousy directions plus airport frustrations, that relationship has reached a new, much stronger level. The tvs don't work on the plane we're on, but Bryan and I kick booty playing trivia against other passengers. I truly am the Queen of Useless Knowledge.
COMING UP: Amsterdam, Berlin, and Prague!
