Day 16 – 3801 miles … Hollywood, friends and Long Beach

Today was a very early start, especially after arriving the night before around 2A. So, at 630A I wake … get my cup of coffee and head outside to dump our tanks, fill with water and get on the road. We have a scheduled commitment at 845A in Hollywood, as Kelly has arranged a bus tour of the city, sites and homes of the famous :). I expect no one awake on a Sunday morning … but it turns out my neighbor (site 168), has chosen this morning to interact … yesterday he sat there the entire morning without a peep … this morning … he wanted to chat.

Turns out Hank, from Anaheim, comes to the park every year for 3 weeks to “escape” the city :) … he’s got 3 kids, all sleeping the tent that he and I are speaking over. He asks about us, our destination, where we are from, highlight of our trip … I try very hard to stay interested and engaged, while I handle our sewer hose … My 10 minutes and we are on the road, turns into a 30 minute conversation … but I finally escape. I get on the road, and people start waking up with I hit I10. The roads in Los Angeles are the worst roads that we have experienced so far. The maps on our dash fall off after 5 minutes, the dishes on the counter are on the floor and the crashing and pounding wakes everyone … just in time to see the LA skyline … through the fog.

We find a parking spot on a side street about 2 blocks from Hollywood and Vineland … just across from Hollywood High school. According to signs we can be here until 11A … so 2.5 hrs to explore Hollywood. Kelly darts off for her tour and we walk to Mel’s Diner (apparently a famous place where stars have been “discovered” … I’m hoping it’ll be me next). We order our hearty breakfast and have a real nice, relaxed morning. We head onto Hollywood and go finding for stars we recognize. In a short while, we’ve found Mickey, Donald, Winnie the Pooh  and Julie Andrews (the kids find it … Mary Poppins and Maria!).

We cross the street and walk to Manns Chinese Theatre, outside the girls see a bunch of people in costumes … A member of Kiss, a couple of Storm Troopers, about 5 Spidermans, a few Disney characters, 4 Captain Jack Sparrow, a Marylyn Monroe (aged to 65+), an Indiana Jones and several others I couldn’t recognize.  The girls walk up to Mickey (in Sorcerer’s outfit), he … out of character, heads towards me and says “Dude, we pose for tips … ok?” … what? Mickey doesn’t talk … let alone hit you up for money. The girls nuzzle against him, and I take the picture … then he leans into me with his hand outstretched … Does Walt know about this? … I give him $2.

Upon revisiting the “characters”, I see that all of the Spiderman’s have a fanny pouch. 2 are carrying about 25lbs extra and 1 I can see his underwear … does anyone care what this will do to the kids … Oh well … we visit a couple of stores, walk a couple of blocks and head back to the RV by 1130A to move before we are towed or ticketed.

We drive to the museum at the La Brea Tar Pits … one, I’ve always wanted to visit (not sure why). It is a small museum and takes very little to walk through … I like the displays, the girls seem to enjoy it … but Genna is disappointed that she didn’t see more dinosaurs. The remains found here are mainly from ice age animals … cool. My favorite is the giant ground sloths. Jack sleeps in the RV while Michelle reads, and they join us a little later. We tour the outside grounds and see the bubbling asphalt “ponds” …

We head back through Hollywood and to Griffith Park, as Michelle has found that they have a train that you can ride, as well as, Ponies. We make our way there, 5 miles, 25 minutes … park (at the furthers point from the attraction) and walk to get our tickets … Wayne and his niece Julia meet us there … and we have a great couple of hours.

Kate and Jaci each ride ponies, who at one point go into a gallop … both have huge grins as they take do the 2 laps of the grounds. We then get tickets for the train and do the 8 minute ride … Jack and Genna love it … and we have a nice and surprisingly relaxed afternoon. It’s now 430P and Kelly is back from her tour. Kate and Jaci leave with Wayne for Long Beach, where we will get together with Robin and Jane for dinner.  It takes me 30 minutes to travel the 4 miles to pick Kelly up and we end up at the Shoreline Village in Long beach for a great dinner with friends.

For the night we head to Lia’s house, which is back in Pomona and get there about 11P at night … all the kids are sleeping and we have a some time to catch up with Wayne. Another great day … I’ve learned to “deal” with the traffic …. I signal and move, I don’t look … and I become very aggressive. When I need to change multiple lanes, I started swerving in my lane, crossing the white lines by a foot on either side …  this apparently is the signal to the other drivers, that I am as big an idiot as they are and have no respect for my vehicle, let alone theirs … they always make room.