Hollywood Part 2

While we were in Hollywood we went on a StarLine Hop-On Hop-Off Double Decker Bus Tour.  The route we took had about 16 stops including, Rodeo Drive, Paramount Studios,  Shopping on Melrose Ave., Sunset Strip, Pink's Hot Dogs, La Brea Tar Pits, Peterson Automotive Museum and Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  It was such a beautiful day for the ride also!      

StarLine Hop-On Hop-Off Sightseeing Tour Bus



The both of us on the bus.

 

View of Hollywood Blvd. from the top of the bus.

The beginning of the the tour took us past the Chateau Marmont Hotel on Sunset Blvd.  The Cateau Marmont made headlines in 1982 when comedian John Belushi died from a drug overdose.  It also occasionally finds itself in the tabloids for a variety of scandalous activity, from underage drinking to secret romances.  Sandra Bullock is quoted in the LA Times as saying "No wonder people come here to have affairs, its got that air of history, where you know a lot of people did things they weren't supposed to do."  

  

Chateau Marmont Hotel

From there the tour took us back to Beverly Hills & back down Rodeo Drive.  It was fun having a "birds eye" view of what we had seen earlier in the day.  At the end of Rodeo Drive sits the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel.  Home to the characters Richard Gere & Julia Roberts played in the movie "Pretty Woman".   

Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel

The tour continued on & we passed landmarks such at the Four Seasons Hotel, The Ivy and The La Brea Tar Pits. 

Four Seasons Hotel

We got off the bus at Petersen Automotive Museum.  Tyler was super excited about this stop!  Petersen Automotive Museum is a 300,000 square feet building that has a revolving inventory of cars.  The day we went they had just opened a new exhibit, Super Cars.  I didn't take many pictures while we were there.  I did take some pictures of some of the more famous cars though.     

The Love Bug

The Batmobile

Speedracer Car

General Lee (2005 movie)

The Museum also played a small role in a celebrity murder. Rapper Notorious B.I.G. had attended a Soul Train awards party at the Petersen on March 9, 1997; when the controversial rapper left the party in his car, he was gunned down nearby in a drive-by shooting.

By the time we were finished with the museum tour it was starting to get dark and we wanted to get back to Hollywood Blvd.  We waited a few minutes on the bus to return, but got impatient.  Sooo, we took a cab.  And a good thing we did.  We drove right by Kat Von D's tattoo shop!! High Voltage & home to the TV show LA Ink.  We wanted to stop, but like I said before it was getting dark and the shop was not in the best part of town.  Hopefully before we leave California we can make it back. 

High Voltage Tattoo

Home of LA Ink

This is the view we had when we pulled back up to Hollywood Blvd:

It isn't a great picture and it doesn't show how breath taking it was, but it will do. 

A little bonus to the day....on our way home Tyler we missed our turn & wound up the Bel-Air.  We got lucky on that wrong turn, we always use the GPS now! 

Ok, I have one last picture to share with you.  This was the real LA!  I am glad we were on top of a bus!!

Trip to California (and lack there of)

My trip to California was one of the most spontaneous, crazy events in my entire life. Tyler had been in California for a little less than a month when we spoke about me making the trip out. Tyler and I made the decision on a Monday night. Tuesday morning I gave my notice at work and Wednesday I bought my plane ticket for the following Thursday. Whirlwind!! This gave me 1 week to get everything in order. My list was a little crazy, but I was handling it. I found a great home for my grandpa's plant to stay (thank you Shannon!!), found a place for Decoy to stay (thank you Tyler!!), forwarded the mail, threw out anything that would go bad in the fridge, cleaned the house, packed my bags, and did soooo many other little things that came up. The one thing that was not coming together was a new home for Cayenne. If we make the decision to travel for awhile we knew Cayenne would not be happy living in a camper. Tyler posted her on Craig's List and we had a few people interested but no takers. I was really starting to stress and our great friend Tyler said he would also keep her until we found her a new home. What a stress relief. (side note: Cayenne did find a new home this past Sunday. She has moved to Beaver Lake and has 3 kids to play with!! I am sure she is super happy!! I am still super sad but I know what is best for her!!)

I was now down to less than 72 hrs. until I was with Tyler again. My bags were packed other than a few last minute things and I was more than ready to go! I didn't get to go. =( I woke up the day before my flight with a 103.0°F temperature, horrible chills and the WORST body aches ever!!! I made my way to the doctor, waited for the doctor, had the nurse shove a HUGE Q-Tip all the way to my brain (I did manage to tell her "Thank You") and had received the news......"You have the flu." Damn it man! My main concern was my flight the next day. When I asked the doctor if I could still leave she told me no. She said if I did leave it would most likely turn into pneumonia. No Thank You!

I left the doctor and made my way to the store for more food (I had thrown all mine out....I was leaving the very next day!!) and picked up my Tamiflu (AMAZING DRUG!!). I headed home to rest and make the dreaded phone call to the airline. I was prepared to pay another outrageous fee for the change. I told the very nice lady what had happened and was braced for the $$$$. All she said was "Alright everything is changed and I will email you the new itinerary. Hope you feel better soon and have a great day." REALLY!?!?! No charge!?!?! WOOOO HOOO!

Thursday (the day I was supposed to leave!) I thought I was going to die!! It was horrible. The flu SUCKS!! Friday was better, Saturday even better and Sunday I felt human again! I worked Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the following week and got everything taken care of there. Wednesday night I had a great dinner with a great friend, Megan. It was so nice to spend a few more hours with her. Thursday finally arrived and I was so excited to see Tyler!! Shannon picked me up (and my 2 GIANT bags, 1 carry on bag and overloaded backpack) and drove me to the airport. She helped me get all those bags in, which I was very appreciative of because I would have been quite a site trying to do it myself.

My flight was a little delayed due to an extra person on board and a large fishing rod. I felt like I was on a hidden camera show! Other than that, the flight was great. I landed in L.A. around 10 local time, midnight at home. I was tired! I loved getting to hug Tyler. We stood in the middle of everyone just hugging. It was GREAT! We had about an hour drive to the camper and I was starving. So we stooped at In-N-Out Burger!! It was sooooo good!

I was very excited about the next day because it started Tyler's R&R. 5 days off from work! We had big things planned. Beverly Hills, Hollywood and the Santa Monica Pier.