Monday, February 15, 2016

Hooray for Hollywood

Day 1: Thursday, February 11
Seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position, seat belts are securely fastened, and smiles are on these travelers' faces. 
All ready for takeoff! 
We are SoCal bound.

After a very quick and very direct flight to Los Angeles, we hopped in our rental car, navigated a crazy route (all thanks to Waze), and headed to a two-hour tour of Paramount Studios.

Our tour guide took our group of seven (four of us and our three Aussie buddies) all around the studio in a golf cart. We got to visit a warehouse filled with retired (and some very recognizable) props, we walked the streets of the backlot, and we toured a few sound stages as we learned a lot about what goes on behind-the-scenes in Hollywood.



 Look at these two "celebrities" that we saw on the streets of New York!
Oh, the paparazzi!

Braxton demonstrated that all of those workouts for baseball have obviously paid off. 


"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." :-)

Forrest Smith?!


Okay, so this might be about the most touristy thing that we did while in LA.
Well, maybe not...

After stopping at In-N-Out in Hollywood, we headed to Santa Monica to check in to our Airbnb. We had reservations at a Spanish-style guest cottage for three nights. 

The sole reason for our trip to Southern California was not to visit Hollywood, but it was to visit our middlest child, and watch her perform in "Dance in Flight" at Pepperdine. Our college coed was unable to see us on our first day in California. On "Day Two" we were promised big squishy hugs with our California girl. :-)