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Cali Trip Recap
Posting 2 Parts at once, here.

So, some of you may have known about my recent trip to California.  Essentially, I was there for a wedding and to see friends that I hadn't seen in 4+ years.  I was there for a week exactly, from one Sunday to the next.

Sunday - Welcome To Hollywood
Major Destination:  LA
Sightseeing:  Hollywood & Highland (and thereabouts)
Points Of Interest:  ...dude.  It's HOLLYWOOD.
Murphy's Law:  Phone No Worky In Cali.  D'oh!

So, yes.  After an 8-hour bus ride where my knees/ankles withstood unreal amounts of abuse due to lack of leg room on the bus, I finally get to LA.  On the bus ride, I discover that once I leave Phoenix, my phone gets no signal and I can neither make nor receive calls.  I just get the "Searching..." bit at the top of the screen.  This problem continues throughout my trip and only goes away when I'm back in Phoenix.  Sorry, sukino & moth_in_flamez!  ^^;;

Once in LA, I meet up with Best Friend from childhood and Gay Friend from High School, and much squee-age ensues.

Somehow, despite not having eaten since the previous afternoon nor slept since the night before, I find enough reserves of energy to join Best Friend and Gay Friend on a grand tour on foot of Hollywood, guided by LA-Native Friend and her fellow native friend. Was fun as hell.  Went all around the Kodak Theatre (Academy Award Ceremony Headquarters) and the Chinese Theater, and that plaza place with the columns with the elephants, and the "Hollywood" sign on the hills, and all that fun celebrity-worship stuff.  Basically walked our way all the way up and down & around the streets.

Celeb impersonators and sign-carrying The-End-Is-Nigh religious fanatics were out in full swing, of course, and we got our photos taken with guys dressed up like Michael Jackson, Freddy Krueger, Jason, Random Zombies, and almost got pics with guys dressed up like Kiss.  LA-Native Friend made a grand show of jumping up and down and stomping on Halle Berry's sidewalk star as people were taking pictures of it. 

We talked, laughed, met friends of friends, giggled like fiends, and took goofy red-carpet pictures that will never see the light of LJ-day. :p

Sugar Daddy Moments:  Saw Johnny Rockets, Mae West's lookalike, and The Magic Castle (or whatever) that Q, Tro & Wu went to on their first DATEdate.




Monday - Beaches, Crazy People & The Hill From Hell
Major Destination:  LA
Sightseeing:  Santa Monica, Downtown LA
Points Of Interest:  Malibu Santa Monica Pier/Beach, Private Karaoke, Omni Hotel & surrounding areas
Murphy's Law:  Family wedding!stress coming to a boil (All I'm saying about that, 'cause yeek! I felt kinda bad for everyone. O_O), random crazy guy on the streets scaring us. O_O;;

If you'll remember, I last left off at Hollywood. I never thought I'd ever see Hollywood, to be honest. Then one day I'm at home, geeking happily over my newfound Dr. Who love and graphics projects, the next I'm in the land of the Stars & Socialites, being disgustingly touristy. ^^;; That's life for you, I guess.

So. We get home that night, get sleeping arrangements worked out (7 people and one 3 year-old in a 500 sq. ft. 1-bedroom apartment? Yeah. It was interesting.) Wake up the next morning, everyone showers and gets ready, and we all pile into the car to head to Santa Monica, because we got out just a tad too late to see Malibu and get back in time to take care of wedding stuff w/LA Native Friend's Fiancee. Ah, well.

Anyway. We get to the pier and initially have plans to go to the amusement park and ride the big giant ferris weel that overlooks the ocean, and what do we end up doing? Standing at the shore, looking out into the ocean.

I'm going to say this up-front. I didn't want to go to the beach, personally, but in some respects, I'm glad I didn't say anything and went along with it. I still don't think it's as glamorous as it's made out to be (Wet, packed sand is fine. Walking through dry sand to GET to the wet sand is hell on your feet. O_O Hardly romantic.) But standing in the water at the shore and looking out at this vast expanse of ocean was amazing. Growing up in Texas flatlands and living in the Arizona desert, you really get thrown off by it.

I was a dork, I'll admit. I spent about 10 minutes cataloguing the sights, smells and all that other sentimental stuff you only do in bad romance novels. Best Friend took photos and got her ass soaked by a particularly large wave once her back was turned for a group!friend!shot. After she went to all the effort of rolling up her pants so they wouldn't get soaked, too. *SNERK*

We walk back up the beach and pier (which was a loooong uphill walk, mid-day, with me in a sweater kthnx) and back to the car and headed back to LA. LA Native Friend went back to meet up w/her Fiancee and pick up their marriage license, dropping me off w/BEst Friend and Gay Friend at a local mom-and-pop Salvadoran eatery to have pupusas for lunch. I was in love. O_O They meet back up with us there after they're finished and get some food, themselves.

We finally get back to the apartment, hang for a while, try to keep the Resident 3 Year-Old from getting TOO wound up, but finally cut loose and start blasting some music and bust out with the dorkiest moves we can come up with. (Hamster? Check. Sprinkler? Check.) Plus bonus rump-shaking and smacking from LA-Native Friend and her sister, whooping, hollering, and generally making a commotion. Justin Timberlake's new album got a serious workout that evening. XD

Late that night, just before dinner, LA-Native Friend drags me, Best Friend and Gay Friend out of the house AGAIN. Kind of a relief, actually. We stop at a local street vendor, get arroz con leche and chamborado to drink, and go out for some fun to get out of the heat and craziness back at the apartment. We have grand adventures in LA Public transportation and do stupid dance moves as we walk the streets. Our eventual destinations were Burger King for dinner, a local Karaoke place where they have private sound-proof rooms you rent out by the hour w/couches, huge sound systems, computerized song-choice systems you operate yourself, etc. We goof off, sing Wannabe, SexyBack, Toxic, Bohemian Rhapsody, Hotel California, and various other songs before our time is up, and do more idiotic dance moves.

Finally, we finish with karaoke and head out again for our final destination. (With a stop at the drugstore for water for us and hair coloring for the bride-to-be.) The Omni Hotel in Downtown LA. More walking, more buses, more walking, and then...The Hill From Hell.

Now, for those of you who don't know, The Omni is apparently the posh celeb-hotel that everyone stays at while in LA. It's on top of "historic Bunker Hill in the heart of sophisticated downtown Los Angeles" and lemme tell you - that hill is HUGE. So huge that I refer to it only as The Hill From Hell. Now, here's me, already having done at least 8 hours of walking, including one OTHER giant uphill walk at the pier earlier that day, facing THAT sucker. Getting the picture?

Did I make it? Yep. Was it pretty? I dare say not. I had to stop for a few minutes about 2/3 of the way up and nearly fell over by the time we got there, but I did it. That's one HELLUVA big point for me, and lots of gratitude to everyone else for being patient with me.

We get to the Omni cafe at about 1am, and of course it's gorgeous. As nice as you'd expect, with good tea and comfy couches and great views. We lounge about, guzzle caffeine, and talk for about an hour before they finally kick us out so they can close.

On our way back, I'm feeling better and looking forward to walking DOWNHILL for once, and this crazy guy just comes out of nowhere. Starts harassing us and screaming and yelling something about the marines and kicking their asses and we get Freaked. The Fuck. OUT. I guess that's what we get for walking the streets of LA at 2:30 am. ^^;;

Luckily, we were literally still in the Omni courtyard, so we just walked across the street to another well-lit area at another nice building. We found a security guard who was nice enough to call a taxi and stay with us until the cab got there, and admired the plaza as we waited. I eyed the signs and ads and started trying to figure out how to recreate them in Photoshop, Best Friend makes fun of me for being a geek, etc.

Cab driver figures we're all tourists and tries to rip us off by taking a really long way back until we call him on it, but we finally get back to the apartment for another night's sleep on the floor. ^^;;

Sugar Daddy Moments:  Ummm...I think there was a point in the fic where Q went to the beach? ^^;; Not sure it was Santa Monica, but yay? >_>