Gotta Love LA..Or Maybe Not So Much

We left the Mazda and half our belongings in the Pittsburgh airport and hopped a plane to LA for a week to meet family for a mini vacation and a home Rams game. I was enjoying the cooler temperatures and fall foliage in New York and Pennsylvania but not the rain we encountered almost everyday. I was missing my sun time. So here we are. Sunny Los Angeles.

On Wednesday when we arrived, we got our car, checked into our hotel and enjoyed dinner at Mel's Diner in West Hollywood.

Thursday, we all took the Catalina Express over to Catalina Island for the day. This was beautiful and I'd love to spend some extended time here on the island.

 As we headed out to Catalina we passed 2 cruise ships...the Queen Mary from 1936 and a Carnival ship heading out later that day. I thought it was interesting to see them and compare the two.

Later after everyone was back in their hotel rooms, LW and I went to LAX to pick up the Bankstons.  They were here to enjoy a long weekend but also as a surprise for everyone.


Friday after showing the grandparents our "surprise," we headed out to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. We had a great time seeing sets and artifacts but my favorite part was watching the Bankstons perform a scene of friends. The video is too large to post here. I'll post it on Facebook and Twitter if possible. Then we had dinner and walked around The Grove. It reminded us of the Domain at home.

Saturday we were headed into Hollywood to have lunch and check out the Walk of Stars and the Chinese Theatre. On the way we were involved in a minor fender bender.  This took a chunk of our sightseeing time so we didn't spend much time in Hollywood.  Luckily everyone was ok and there was minimal damage to the rental car.  I hate LA roads. You think Austin's MOPAC and I35 are bad? Yea right. Not compared to LA.  Even before the little accident I was having difficiulty with stress while riding as a passenger. Now I'm really stressed out riding up and down these freeways. (I'm ready to get out of here.) That night the whole family (16 of us) met up for dinner.

Sunday the Bankstons fly home and we are headed to the Rams-Buffalo game.