Stop 12: LA = Lotta Activity

The drive to Los Angeles wasn't long in miles but in time, it was a commitment. The traffic here is definitely no joke. There was plenty of stop and go action. Andy sat in the back of the van and got in a solid two hours of work while I drove and Sarah slept. Charlotte and Alex watched Cars in the far back and we cruised along for several hours, slowly winding our way through several seas of cars to reach our hotel. The room at this Marriott brand hotel was very nice, with a large, fold-out sofa for Sarah and two big beds so we didn't have to get out the air mattress. Andy was freaked out that the modern shower didn't close and he felt exposed. The hotel is Beach Boys-themed because it's located in Hawthorne, CA. Andy really likes the Beach Boys and on the way to CA, he actually asked me to look up where the Beach Boys originated. We read about Hawthorne, all the while not realizing our hotel was here because it just lists Los Angeles/LAX as the address. So he was psyched!

After unloading the van, we found a small historic landmark in town where they recorded their first hit. The house has since been demolished in favor of a highway but there is a small memorial there marking the spot where it stood. Andy couldn't resist the combination of Beach Boys and nostalgia so we popped over there for some photos.

Charlotte really wanted to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame so that's where we went next. Traffic is a beast so the 11-mile drive took 40 minutes, but we made it. We even got some souvenir shopping done and saw the Hollywood Sign (though it's really hard to see in these photos because the smog photographed better than the sign) so we checked several things off the list with this stop.

This is for Sarah's friend, Molly. We've never seen a Marvel movie.

HOLLYWOOD Sign just above Char's head

Sarah wanted to try In-N-Out Burger because all her Twitter-verse people love it but when we found one, the drive-thru line was--literally--around the block. Those must be some darned good burgers. We chose to pass on the burgers and head to Chick-Fil-A. They never let us down. With various forms of chicken in tow, we headed toward a Miraculous Ladybug pop-up store near Santa Monica Pier. Sarah is New-Kids-On-The-Block-obsessed with an animated show called Miraculous Ladybug. It's a French-produced show that gets translated to English but she LOOOOOVES it and small pop-up store opened recently in SM so she really wanted to visit. We learned late in the day that one of the people who voices a character or two had been at the store earlier in the day but we weren't even in the city yet so we missed her. It turns out that store has limited hours so we got there after it closed but she was very happy to have seen it and to have taken photos there. (Sorry for the poor photo quality--you're really missing out on a GIANT smile from her!) Char got in on the action, too, because it's hard to live in our house and not know about, hear about, or like Miraculous Ladybug. It's all the rage.

We next headed to Santa Monica Pier. I've been here before with my friend, Meghan, about 7-8 years ago (has it been that long?) but this time it was PACKED! We couldn't find any parking so Andy dropped us off and eventually rented one of those scooters to try to catch up to us but had a problem so it made things worse. It was a bit of a nightmare. Anyway, with temps in the 60s and a strong ocean breeze, we were pretty cold all night in shorts and sweatshirts but that didn't stop us from having fun. Andy, Charlotte, and Alex rode the big Ferris Wheel. Sarah and I rode our legs to the funnel cake stand. HA!

Charlotte loves these things called Squishmallows and there was a water-shooting game with a large Squishmallow prize. Each game was $5 with a minimum of 4 players. We watched as one girl played many times, won twice, then walked away. I had a $20 in my pocket and the two girls with me at that point so we waited, and waited, and waited until there were no others around...then pounced. We had ONE CHANCE to win this thing. It was the three of us...waiting for a fourth player. Then two people walked up to try their hand at a Squishmallow but WE wanted that prize for Charlotte. It was 3 against 2 and the barker counted down, "Everyone ready? Get set in 3...2..." and the guns fired early! The little Pokemons that signaled whose aim was best started rising but I didn't dare take my eye off my target until I heard the bell ring at the end of the race. I raised my eyes to the top of the carnival cart and saw....MY LIGHTS FLASHING! I won! We told the barker we wanted the red octopus and he tossed it down to me. Charlotte leaped with joy and hugged me like I'd just offered her a trip around the countr....oh, wait. I hope she likes that rather expensive Squishmallow. She's pretty cute holding it.

Meanwhile, Alex and Andy were off in the arcade. While we were in Vegas, Alex couldn't figure out where the "kid arcade" was and why the adults had so many games to play. So seeing that Santa Monica Pier had an arcade, Andy caved and let him play some games. He was SOOO happy! He ended up with 200 tickets and purchased a slide whistle, which produced far less sound than buyer's remorse, and 10 finger-flicking frogs, about which he is very pleased.

Seeing that the clock had long struck midnight, we headed back to our hotel. With traffic significantly reduced, the 12-mile trek only took 16 minutes this time. We all fell into bed pretty quickly (except me--I stayed up to record all of these memories in blog fashion so we don't forget because the days all seem to run together lately).

The morning was another hotel breakfast and trip to the grocery for lunch food and snacks. The long drive to San Francisco meant we'd be eating at least one meal on the road and we didn't want to eat another drive-thru meal (although Sarah was still committed to her In-N-Out burger). Sandwiches are easy to make while driving and they keep us moving...in "two" ways.

Charlotte made Andy a waffle

We left the hotel and headed toward Beverly Hills to check out what all the hubbub is about. The first street we saw was Dayton Street so we thought that was a good sign. We were pretty sure they were going to charge us each time we looked at each store so we didn't dare get out of the care in case there were fees to sniff the scent of expensive boots, belts, and blouses. We did pop two quarters in the parking meter to take photos by the Beverly Hills sign so that fit into our budget.

There was a fun banyan/magnolia tree nearby with loads of carved names and initials but we did have the time or gumption to carve initials so we took some photos and headed out. Alex continued asking about seeing the HOLLYWOOD sign again so we drove around and around and around looking for it. Admittedly, I was less than thrilled with this venture knowing that we had a 6-hour drive ahead of us. We did find it and Alex wasn't even that pumped to see it. Ugh, 10 year olds are so moody. 😜

We finally hit the open road and headed north for San Francisco. Andy got tired pretty quickly so I took over for several hours with my earbuds in and Audible on full blast. I couldn't hear the kids arguing or Andy snoring. It was delightful! Tonight we're in an AirBNB in San Francisco.