After seeing how beautiful Santa Barbara is on the beach , we definitely weren't ready to go to chaotic Los Angeles. But to fit in the basic tourist attractions in LA we had to take off.
We traveled down Hwy 1 (the Pacific Coast Highway), going through Malibu, passing Neptune's Net (the place seen on "Fast and the Furious" and a few other TV shows and movies like "The Hills"). Traveling on a Saturday in Malibu and Los Angeles was terrible--at least it was for us, and perhaps this is why we enjoyed Oregon so much. For one, there were way too many people and cars in Malibu and LA. When we finally got to Santa Monica, we just rolled on through because it was crazy busy and packed with no parking anywhere. So, we headed toward Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I'd been to LA before (in 2006) so I'd seen all of this, but of course I wanted to show Klay the 'touristy' type attractions.We went down Rodeo Dr (of course) and headed to Hollywood Blvd to park and walk down the 'Walk of Fame.' We walked down looking at all the stars w/ celeb names lined along the street.
Apparently, there was an event happening Grauman's Chinese Theatre (it was some kind of film festival) so it was packed.We didn't get to do too much walking around there because it was 80 degrees and we had to leave the pups in the car (we cracked the windows), so we didn't stay long.
We spent the next hour and a half trying to find somewhere to eat (our GPS was messing up), and then we would go to a place and it wasn't there or didn't look very good. The one thing really stupid thing I will say about LA is that there are NO, and I mean NO, green left arrow lights. So with all of the people in the city and with every street packed and busy, you have to gun it when the light is yellow to turn left; it's awful and left turns take forever because of it. And, once again we have pedestrians and bicyclists flying out in front of the vehicle at their own will. A couple of them almost got hit--not by us, but some other people!
Overall this was one of those frustrating days where every place we turned had construction, we kept spilling things or knocking things over (which created more problems and frustration), and had trouble with virtually everything. We were still having some fun, but it was too busy out for us to really enjoy ourselves.
The one thing that I'd always dreamed of doing was visiting the school where "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," my favorite TV show, was filmed (along with other shows/movies like "Beverly Hills 90210," "She's All That," "Bring It On," "Not Another Teen Movie," among many others). And today, my dream finally came true!I'd googled it's location (along with a couple of other Buffy filming locations, which we didn't go to), and Klay and I found it! I flipped when I finally saw it.
Luckily, Torrance High School (the name of the actual school), was having an event and they had the school not completely gated off. So, Klay and I walked around and I was citing lines from "She's All That" and "Buffy" showing him where they filmed what scene and what episode it was in, etc. Then, we found the Sunnydale HS courtyard (Sunnydale is the fictional town Buffy lives in)!I seriously had a few tears come out! I know, I know I'm lame! But imagine this, people: I've watched this show since the 4th grade.
I've seen every episode, and the first couple seasons are my absolute favorites--I might possibly be the biggest Buffy fan ever (check out my old Facebook photos for proof; pics of my old Buffy room are on there). I think I know most of the words to every show, so seeing this literally made be the happiest Buffy fan on the planet.
This day definitely ended on a high note--at least for me! Klay kept joking that we needed to be careful and watch out for all the demons because we were on the hellmouth! Just an FYI--I'm kicking some vampire butt in the picture to the right! This was definitely one of the coolest things I've done. Now, I just want to get my DVDs of the show and watch them for the millionth time!
Tonight we're staying at the Ramada Inn in Newport Beach. This hotel is completely booked (no joke) along with the rest of the hotels in Newport. We're lucky enough to have the laundry room right next to us (that was sarcasm) and it's midnight and the housekeeping staff is still working. So that's sort of annoying because the dogs flip out when they hear people talking and walking. It's now 1:20 a.m. and I'm still not asleep.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this post! Tomorrow's destination: San Diego! Gooooo Chargers! Whoop!
Thanks for reading "From the Road..." and stay tuned for more posts!
No comments:
Post a Comment