California - Day 5 - Holly Weird

Now that we had an "extra" day, the three of us headed up to L.A. after a leisurely morning around the apartment. I got up early and ran out to get "San Diego's Finest Donuts". They weren't bad. Not bad at all. Whenever I see a chocolate croissant I can't resist and as luck would have it, this place had them!! yummm.

We got in the car for L.A. not knowing exactly where we'd stop first. About half way there we decided our first destination would be Hollywood Blvd and we'd play it by ear after that.

After a 2 hour drive (which Trent slept through again) we parked in a garage and hit the street. Hollywood Blvd was about 2 blocks of attractions and weirdness. You had your walk of fame, Kodak Theater, tour buses, gift stores, etc.

(my main man Dick Van Dyke)

(the 3 Harry Potter kids)

(Shirley Temple 1935)

We saw the tour buses everywhere, and anytime we turned our heads there was someone in our face asking us if we wanted a tour. At first we thought it was lame. We could already see the Hollywood sign from a distance and the thought of seeing stars' homes made me feel like a stalker fan, so we always declined the offer. After a while of walking around we talked to Kevin's cousin, Bobby, who lives in the Hollywood area. We asked him for some suggestions of things to do and he highly recommended a bus tour. We figured if he recommended it, it must be worthwhile. We actually because quite interested in the tour the more we learned about it when trying to book one. Well, by this point the next tour bus wasn't leaving for over an hour and it would be too late once the tour was over and returned to the Blvd, so we had to forgo the bus tour.

The area of the Kodak Theater was quite interesting. It was kind of like a multi-level mall: stores, eateries, benches. We walked the first 2 or 3 floors and found a wonderful chocolate store. I purchased a chocolate and caramel covered marshmallow on a stick thing. It was fabulous.

Did I mention the freaks? Yeah, we saw 3 spidermen, 2 batmen, 2 catwomen, a snoopy, a dora, 2 or 3 Michael Jacksons, an elmo, buzz & woody, and a guy passed out on the stairs. (Remember, this is all in a 1-2 block section. And all on the same side of the street). I didn't bother taking pictures of any of them because they would then expect a tip. They creeped me out. The best we saw was Hand Sanitizer Man. He was dressed up in a white doctors jacket and he walked around with hand sanitizer saying, "I'll sanitize your hands for free, just tip me a penny, a nickle, a dollar, I don't care" in a very pleasant upbeat voice. They were all very interesting.

There was a cool fountain that Trent seemed to enjoy. He liked when daddy would get him really close then back away.

(the white blur above us is the Hollywood sign)

yet another Christmas tree.

After a while we decided to just drive around. We drove up close to the Hollywood sign for a few pictures.

Then we drove down sunset blvd.

Finally, we headed over to a place called City Walk to meet up with Bobby for dinner @ the Hard Rock Cafe. We had a splendid time.

We would have liked to spend more time with Bobby but it was getting late and we had a 2 hour drive back to Laurens, so we split. Trent napped the 2 hour drive and then stayed awake for a while to hang out with Lauren. We went to bed around 10:30-ish I guess.

Somewhere around midnight things took a turn for the worse. I woke up to the feeling of Trent throwing up all over my back. It was so gross. By the time he was done it had gotten all over me, Kevin, the bed, and the floor. Kevin gave him a quick bath and we tried to go back to bed. Poor Trent was up (what felt like) every half hour getting sick, or at least dry heaving. It was terrible. None of us slept well that night.