..just for fun we run around the warner movie lot!
Trip Start
Sep 20, 2009
1
9
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Burbank, California
Saturday, September 26, 2009
As we finished driving through western Arizona, the landscape continued on through the Mojave Desert pretty scarce of life. As we neared the border, I was determined to catch the California sign - I wasn't missing this one!! (and I didn't!). As we drove across the border, in the steamy distance we could see what looked like a toll booth. It was an inspection station. Are we crossing the US border or something?? When we got closer, we could see a guy in a white suit from head to toe. We pulled up and stopped as it said "all vehicles must stop for inspection." Jesse rolled down the window to find a man in a bee suit surrounded by bees.
"Where you coming from?" He asked.
"Massachusetts, actually." Jesse replied in bewilderment.
"Got any fruit or vegetables in there?" He followed up.
"Nope." said Jesse.
"Alright well get out of here before you get bees in your car." He said finally.
So we rolled up our window, looked at each other, and were immediately hysterical. What was that?!?
The desert continued and the temps got upwards of 106 degrees. The a/c was barely cold and we couldn't escape the blaring sun. Our car visors were doing nothing. I was getting sun burnt, I could feel it. It didn't matter... it was sun, not rain, sun! Again, the landscape changed almost immediately. Our first palm tree sighting was exciting (of course I documented it!) We saw some pretty wild plant life including some kind of flowery cactus thing that looked like it should have been in "Bikini Bottom". Then we saw spiky plants and palm tree looking bushes. And a whole lot of desert. There were a lot of trains crossing the desert out here, too. Some really long ones that went though mountains. The small exits off the highway were primarily for gas at these little stations that looked like mirages out in the desert - little desert oasis's.
We were heading to LA first to visit Aaron (our long time friend) and his wife Stacey. I got a call from Aaron that he put us up in a place for the night in the "best hotel in Burbank"... and was taking care of our valet parking!!! WhAT?!?!? I initially thought we were his charity case... but then he said it was a belated wedding gift (even though he already got us one!). I think we really were his charity case... either way, very sweet of them and we really appreciated it! Every little bit helps!!
When we finally saw our first sign for LA, the mountains reappeared again in the distance. The whole city of LA is surrounded by them. It's pretty neat.... The highway into the city was about 6 or 7 lanes and every lane had cars in it. Very stereotypically "LA". There was quite the traffic jam in the OPPOSITE direction, thank goodness.
Pulling into Burbank and seeing our wonderful hotel was promising. It was really modern looking with a roof deck patio and jacuzzi. Our room was awesome, and as I always review, the bed was super comfy! Thanks so much guys! You're the best! After everyone cleaned up and settled in, we all met up for a quick tour of the area. We got to see the WB studios, the infamous water tour from Animaniacs the cartoon, some famous people's homes, a lot of hotels where celebrities died (morbid!! but interesting!!), and some great little neighborhoods that I can't remember the names. We had dinner at "Aroma's". Mmm... delicious grilled vegetable sandwich, and I think jesse got a caprese sandwich. The food was great - I'd def go back (especially for the men's bathroom!! *see photo*). I love how everything in Cali is al fresco (which was so hard to find in Boston...)
Tired, we went to bed early to get up the next day for some breakfast and another tour of LA and then some lunch. We got to see Hollywood hill and a lot of pretty amazing celebrity homes. I can't even remember half of the people Stacey named. She's quite the little tour guide. She even gets her eyebrows done by the same lady that does Lindsay Lohan's! Yes, she washes her hands thoroughly before touching Stacey!
We had lunch on Melrose (which Jesse and I both liked the best) at a really great little place with awesome food and organic options. That's where our photo of us all together was taken. Sadly, the day had to end so we could head to San Diego!!!!! Ron and Stacey did a great job of "selling" us on LA, but it just didn't seem like it was for us. Great to know we have such amazing friends in the hood though. Can't wait to have them down to SD once we have an address.
We left around 3:30 to start driving down to San Diego. We decided to drive along the coast and hit all the northern neighborhoods we were interested in seeing on our way down. We went through Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach, and La Jolla. We LOVED Carlsbad (but later learned that it's one of the richest neighborhoods in the US). La Jolla was something out of a magazine. Utterly gorgeous beach homes and pristine white beaches. Pacific beach was south of La Jolla. Our first impression was a little to bar centric and college oriented. Then we headed into Ocean beach. First impression?? Totally hippie 60s type of place. A bunch of beach bums, totally crowded and run down, and really focused on the beach only. I wouldn't be very motivated here...
We left Ocean Beach and headed into Downtown to our hotel. By this time, we wanted to check in, park and get some dinner. It was about 7:30ish.... Our hotel, the Sheraton, was very nice. Jesse 'pricelined' again, got us a great suite with an awesome city view, and we found parking right near the hotel for free. Yay!! We 'yelped' (I love all these "verbs" we use in our generation - I think "google" actually made it into the dictionary... priceline and yelped will be in there shortly thanks to me!!) a restaurant and found La Puerta. It said street mexican and reminded us of our favorite mexican place back in boston (La Verdad). We walked there. It was all open to the street and great atmosphere. Everyone was so friendly. We got a table right away and got the guac and chips. House made chips and amazing guac. The street style tacos were tasty and jesse branched out to get a burrito he'll never order again. All in all, a great place. So excited to start off our San Diego experience on a positive note! I remember looking at Jesse and saying "this already feels like home". And it did. We walked back to the hotel and crashed around 11.... wiped from such a long long day. I couldn't wait to start our apartment hunt tomorrow. It wasn't going to totally feel like home until we had a home.
PS The gradual adjustment to the time change was awesome. We never missed a beat! Makes you feel really far from home when you're in a different time zone, though...
PPS Also, the title is a line from the "animaniacs" cartoon theme song... just an FYI.
Comments
I don't remember much of animaniacs.......
but I do remember we got bologne in our slacks!
amazing. Your life is trip...San Diego is good city, enjoy the Chinese buffet there.There is one restaurant near Mission Plazza. Go and have a good meal there...