La La Land

In december 2002 we were going to southern california. I'd been to disneyland and the san diego zoo before, but pretty much everything else was a brand new experience. And now I can say it: I love L A !

tues | wed | thurs | fri | sat | sun | mon
tues2 | wed2 | thurs2 | fri2 | sat2

day 1: tuesday, december 3
We arrived at LAX and drove to hollywood to check into the best western hollywood hills hotel, our hotel for the first two nights. This is where they filmed the famous diner scenes in the movie swingers.

day 2: wednesday, december 4
After breakfast in the coffee shop (which has been redesigned since the movie), we were off on a self-guided tour of the stars' houses in beverly hills. We followed the frommers' suggested driving tour (unfortunately, no longer available online). Afterwards we stopped for a hot dog at the famous art deco landmark: the tail o the pup. Then it was off to burbank and NBC's the tonight show with jay leno. Tonight's guests were dennis miller and singer john mayer. Later on, we had dinner at a funky new place: lola's in west hollywood. This place is famous for its long list of tasty martinis, plus the food is excellent too.

day 3: thursday, december 5
We started off with breakfast at kokomo at the famous farmers market in downtown los angeles. Then we headed over to hollywood and grauman's chinese theather, which is famous for all the movie stars' handprints in cement (see my around town pics). Besides hand and shoe prints, there are also george burns' cigar, trigger's hoof prints, and greta garbo's leg print. Later in the day we made our scheduled change of hotels, moving up in class to the beverly hills hotel. This is the world famous "pink palace", scene of many hollywood mogul deals at the polo lounge and famous star sightings in the pool, including the famous discovery of actor and film producer robert evans at the pool (see my historic hotels pics). In the afternoon, we took a tour of warner brothers studios, and then had dinner at wolfgang puck's famous spago restaurant in downtown beverly hills.

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day 4: friday, december 6
Breakfast was served at the polo lounge in the beverly hills hotel. Then we were off to santa monica pier, catalina, and the j. paul getty museum. We had a late lunch in the museum cafeteria overlooking the smoggy valley. A quick stop at our hotel to freshen up and we headed to staples center and the game of the year: the dallas mavericks vs. the los angeles lakers (see my lakers pics). I was annoyed that they would not allow me to enter with my camera's telescopic lens, which I had to take back to the car. The mavs took a huge lead in this game, only to lose in the end. The crowd (excluding me) was going wild like they had just won the championship. Ugh!

day 5: saturday, december 7
After three full days and four nights in los angeles, it was time to move on to other parts of southern california. We headed east toward the joshua tree national park. On the way out there, we passed some amazing windmill farms used to generate electricity, which covered the hills for as far as the eye could see. The park itself was just okay (see a joshua tree pic), especially considering the time it took to get out there. (I wouldn't go out of my way for this park!) Afterwards, we headed to palm springs and dinner at las casuelas mexican restaurant which was very good. Our drive southwest took us to san diego and the famed hotel del coronado.

day 6: sunday, december 8
This was our day at the zoo: The san diego zoo, perhaps the most famous zoo in the world (see my san diego zoo pics). Lots of animals can be viewed in a natural setting. The zoo's biggest attraction is the famed giant pandas from china. We left mid-afternoon and headed north to anaheim. Dinner was at mrs. knott's chicken dinner restaurant, right outside of knott's theme park. This was incredibly tasty chicken, with lots of comfort food like biscuits and mashed potatoes, and of course a slice of boysenberry pie for dessert.

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day 7: monday, december 9
After breakfast, we took the shuttle bus over to disneyland. They now have two theme parks here, the original "magic kingdom", and the "california adventure" which just opened last year. Since I'd been to the original disneyland a couple of times, and it's similar to the magic kingdom in orlando, we only explored the new park (see my disneyland pics). The park didn't have enough rides, but there were a couple things worth doing. By far the best is soarin' over california, and also the grizzly river run (a raft ride). After leaving the park, we had a long ride up the coast to pismo beach.

day 8: tuesday, december 10
The morning was spent at the hearst castle, the famous palace of william randolph hearst (see my hearst castle pics). This is the picture of extravagance and ridiculous wealth. Then we headed back down to pismo beach for lunch at steamers of pismo and maybe a horse ride on the beach. Unfortunately, I didn't make a reservation and they were booked. So we headed east for another long drive to sequoia national park. We didn't arrive until after dark, and it was a treacherous drive up the winding roads higher into the mountains of the park. No street lights here! We eventually reached our destination: wuksachi lodge.

day 9: wednesday, december 11
This was a day to explore the famous sequioa trees in both sequoia and kings canyon national parks. General Sherman, General Grant, they're all here (see my sequoia pics). We left the parks by lunchtime and headed south / southeast toward death valley national park, the longest drive of the trip at around 6 hours. Again, we arrived in the darkness at the furnace creek inn right inside the park.

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day 10: thursday, december 12
After breakfast, we took a quick dip in the pool, which is spring fed and a constant 82 degrees. Wow! We toured the park and saw the old borax mines and equipment that's been left behind, and we walked down to the lowest point below sea level in the western hemisphere (see my death valley pics). Just a great park that I will want to see again. Then we made the short drive into nevada and down to las vegas. This time we were staying at the monte carlo hotel and casino.

day 11: friday, december 13
We spent the whole day in las vegas, including checking out the hard rock casino. I even finally found the famous "welcome to las vegas" sign, and ran out onto the median strip to take a picture of the sign.

day 12: saturday, december 14
It was once again time to return home. We caught our flight out of vegas back to BWI and then home. Another great trip.

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