Sunday, October 21, 2012

California Dreaming Part 2

Day 3 we decided to do the tourist thing.   We ate breakfast at McDonalds and headed off to Hollywood.  We started on the Hollywood walk of fame and went to Mann’s Chinese Theatre where we checked out the hand and footprints of the stars.   We hit the souvenir shops and picked up a few item before going back to the Griffith Park Observatory.  We got some great shots of the family with the Hollywood sign in the background.  We started south again, and stopped at the Red Robin (yum) for lunch where the Highway Patrol was doing a fundraiser for Special Olympics. We went back to the hotel, changed into swimwear and drove down Malibu Canyon and along the Pacific Coast Highway to the Santa Monica Pier.  We rode the Ferris wheel, had cotton candy and got our pictures taken in the photo booth.  The kids won various stuffed animals that through their various puppeteers and the annoying voices they created,  almost got left among the debris on the side of the freeway.   We stayed and played in the ocean until sunset, fulfilling my birthday wish.  We finished the day by driving through McDonalds on the way back to the hotel.   We sat in the hot tub and played in the pool while doing some laundry before retiring to our rooms on Saturday night.  Sunday morning we loaded up the Tahoe for the journey to Las Vegas.  We checked into the Excalibur, went to the pool, and walked around the various hotels for a while.  Jake and Kyler rode the roller coaster at the New York, New York and we had dinner at a fake deli there.   We did not manage to win at Keno at the Excalibur, but we tried really hard.  We woke on Sunday morning, went to the M&M store and the Welcome to Las Vegas sign and started home.  On the way home we passed a wreck that we later found out was a Corvette that the driver drove off a cliff and they found meth in the car.   We arrived home after dark on Monday night and got the car unloaded fairly quickly.

This was a great birthday for me.  Kyler bought me a new tv before we left, and everyone chipped in to make the trip possible.  There were little spats here and there, but everyone got along and we had a great memorable family road trip.   Sure am glad to be home.