Hello folks! The Whipps are in California again! Wow ... we were here in Hollywood in March, up in the northern areas in June, and back in Hollywood again in October. One can accurately guess we enjoy visiting California! :)
We chose to come to California not only because it's one of our favorite spots, but also because we have a friend from Australia visiting us. Hannah is one of Fletch's Aussie friends that I became friends with via facebook several months ago. She arrived on 9 October and is loving soaking in the American culture. We arrived in Hollywood on Friday the 16th just in time for our routine dinner at In-N-Out. If you haven't experienced an In-N-Out, then you need to head to CA, AZ, NV or UT!!! They only exist in these states!
We've had a fun, but relaxing weekend so far. Fletch has had some time to shop around the music stores while Hannah and I are hanging out about town. Our hotel is usually a bit exciting over the weekend with Hollywood-related activities throughout the late night/early evening hours! Let's just say our mothers shouldn't be here at this time! In fact, I'm starting to think I don't want to stay here anymore if it's a Friday or Saturday night!
I was really excited to try out a hip hop dance class at the 24 hour fitness in Hollywood off Sunset Blvd. I would love to be able to continue taking the classes, but our local 24 hour fitness clubs don't offer hip hop. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted! The instructor even video taped us dancing! I'm sure he won't include any pics of me ... unless it's posted under a clowning class! LOL
Today we walked up and down Hollywood Blvd looking at all the stars on the sidewalk. It is a much touristy area than Sunset Blvd. We also toured the Grauman Chinese Theatre. There is so much history in that building! After taking a little break back in our hotel room, we ventured out to find some homes of the stars. We saw (mainly hedges and fences) several homes including Michael Jackson's last home where he died. :( We also were saddened to drive down Rodeo drive ... after seeing a homeless man on Sunset Blvd making "camp" for the night. It was amazing to see such a difference in societies in a matter of 10 miles!
Tomorrow we plan on going to Universal Studios. Hannah hasn't been to an amusement park for over 20 years. I'm sure we are all going to have a blast! Fletch and I finally decided to buy an annual pass to Universal because of our frequent trips out here. The weather should be nice and we're looking forward to spending some time outside in the sun. :)
Hopefully we'll have some pictures up tomorrow. :)
Monday, October 19, 2009
Hollywood, CA
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Saturday, June 13, 2009
VACATION DAY #7: Friday, June 12th
YOSEMITE! Fletch and I decided to jog on down to Yosemite at the last minute. We were going to spend 3 days near the Redwood Forest and 3 days at Lake Tahoe, with a day in between those locations to decide whether or not we would want to extend a day at one of those places. When I found out Yosemite wasn't too far away from Lake Tahoe, we decided to spend 2 nights at each location. We both decided this was a great idea even before we got here. We have been to Yosemite just once before just driving through. 2 nights still wasn't enough for a Yosemite trip! We spent the 2 days driving through 80% of the roads in the park and hiking all throughout Yosemite Village. Yesterday we were able to watch a film on rock climbing and even got to meet the rock climber featured in the film! This was a great way to end our outdoorsy vacation ... and a great way to start our summer planning fun quick getaways. Yellowstone just may be in our future this summer for sure!
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Thursday, June 11, 2009
VACATION DAYS #5 & 6: Wednesday & Thursday, June 10th & 11th
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Wednesday, June 10, 2009
VACATION DAY #4: Tuesday, June 9th
We had a lovely day driving through all sorts of California terrain today! We left the giant redwoods and entered the vineyards once again which soon turned into farmlands then tall buildings (Sacramento) before going back to farms and then Sierra Mountains into lake towns!
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Monday, June 8, 2009
VACATION DAY #3: Monday, June 8th
AVENUE OF THE GIANTS!!! Wow! That short 3 lettered word pretty much sums up our day seeing God's beautiful creation! "I Stand in Awe" & "Come Let Us Adore Him" were two of the songs we sang while driving through one of the most scenic drives in America! I can't write any more other on this! Words just can't describe the amazing beauty we saw today! See the pictures below and continue reading about the rest of our day after the pictures. :)
Posted by Mouwoohze at 11:00 PM 0 comments
Sunday, June 7, 2009
VACATION DAY #2: Sunday, June 7th
LAST NIGHT: We didn't quite make it to the American/Italian restaurant. Instead we decided to drive around town. I have crossed over the Bay Bridge several times in my life and always wondered what was on Treasure Island. We decided to exit off of this enormous bridge half the way across to the other side of the bay to find a spectacular night view of San Francisco skyline. Of course we forgot our camera, though. Oh well. It's an excuse to go back the next time we're in town! We both had a fantastic sleep in our small quaint Kimpton room.
Posted by Mouwoohze at 11:33 PM 0 comments
Saturday, June 6, 2009
VACATION DAY #1: Saturday, June 6th
TRAVELING: After a late night chat with Ross, Kerryn, Lachlan and Carmody Maguire we decided to finish our laundry and get packing. Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep. I had to wake up a little earlier to take Zack to his dog sitters before they left at 8:15 a.m. I also misplaced my iPod, so I had to take a trip to school to check around there. Problem #1: no iPod anywhere. We had to leave home without it. We got on the road at a good time, but problem #2: construction on I-25 and Northgate … just 10 minutes from home. We were practically at a stand still for 30 minutes. This caused problem #3: no cheap parking available. We arrived at the airport 1 hour prior to departure. That traffic jam didn’t help us at all! We decided to park in the garage for extra money. Once we arrived in the terminal, we saw (of course) a long check in line. Fletch spotted a worker, so I ran over to him to explain our flight was leaving in one hour. Let’s just say we were able to get to our gate 30 minutes early with a bit of advice from that nice man! (Comment below to find out what happened to get our bag checked in early!). What we thought was a bad start to our travels, started to look good! While we were walking to the gate I realized problem #4: I forgot my iPhone in my car! We were in such a hurry I walked off without it. Oh well. If you want to get ahold of me, call Fletch’s cell! I’m on vacation. J Our flight was supposed to leave at 11:45 a.m. but the lady at the ticket counter FINALLY updated us at 11:45 that air traffic control was keeping our plane grounded and that we would start boarding at 12:00. This fixed problem #5 just splendidly: we were HUNGRY!. We shared a sandwich from Quiznos and continued to wait … and wait … and wait. Luckily (our day has been full of luck and bad news) I asked the agent if we were in the right gate. Nope. They changed the gate and must have announced it after they said we had 15 minutes to go grab a snack. Seriously. They said to leave the gate area to get a snack if needed, but then made an IMPORTANT announcement ONCE … during those 15 minutes we were in line for a sandwich. It was now 12:15 and the lady said we had to go from that gate (25) to 45 to catch the 12:30 flight! ARGH! Another jaunt through the airport and we arrived to find out the plane was STILL delayed until 12:54. At that point I asked the new agent if I had time to get my iPhone and/or move my car from the garage to a cheaper lot. Of course she said no. It took us 30 minutes to board the plane, then another 30 minutes to take off. I am still without my iPhone with my car parked in an expensive spot, but I’m on vacation with my laptop (e-mail me, folks) and my car is protected against weather! J Plus our tickets from Denver – San Francisco total (for 2 tickets) was still $249. No joke. J
SAN FRANCISCO: We arrived to the airport after all those delays without any problems (thank goodness!). Fletch had a beautiful sleep almost the entire way! What a blessed gift he has to be able to sleep on a 2 hr 40 min flight! We found Alamo car rentals without a problem as well and are the drivers of a Light Blue Chrysler Sebring 4 door midsize car. We were able to get to our hotel without a problem as well. Looks like our day is getting better again. :) Once we checked in, the clerk blessed (Melissa) us with the knowledge that a free wine happy hour was starting in 30 minutes. :) Woo-hoo. I had a lovely glass of merlot and then we walked to the corner Starbucks (across the street) for coffee and snacks. :) The hotel is nice, but small. I think small is normal for a San Francisco hotel! I'm glad that they offer free Aveda products. :) Tonight we plan on walking to an Italian/American restaurant to continue celebrating my birthday. :)
Posted by Mouwoohze at 6:58 PM 0 comments