California Trip

{September 26th-October 3rd}

:: Day 1 ::

We kicked off our California vacation at Universal Studios! We had sooo much fun.

It was a great way to celebrate our second anniversary!

The first thing we did was go on the tour of the Universal Studios lot. So many movies/tv shows were/are filmed here.
My favorite thing we saw was the City Hall from Back to the Future. One of my favorite movies!

The big back drop where they do a lot of their big outdoor shoots.

Some other fun stuff we saw along the tour.

Apparently Jaws likes to eat butts.

The Water World show. So cool!

There weren't any lines so we went on the Jurassic Park ride like 6 times!

Just outside the park are a bunch of shops and restaurants. We spent the rest of the evening walking, shopping, and eating!


:: Day 2 ::

Day 2 we went to the Dr. Phil show. I have to say, this was one of my favorite parts of the trip! I don't watch the show much these days but I remember watching every day when I'd get home from school. I always thought it would be so cool to be in the audience. And actually wrote it on my bucket list when I was younger! We were at a total of three tapings. The first show was titled 'Memior of a Milk Carton Kid'. It was about a girl who was held captive for 10 years before she escaped. That one ended up being longer than they planned on so they aired it as a two part special. The second show was titled 'Murder of a Preachers Wife'. The kids of the mother and the murderer were all there (it had taken place 35 years prior and the murderer had since served him time). Both topics were pretty intense. I was hoping for something a little more light and fun but it was cool just to be there so I'm not complaining!

In the first show the camera was pointed right at us the entire time. It was fun to watch the episode. They showed me like 5 times! The 2nd taping they put me on the front row right next to the walkway for the first half of the show as a filler. Dr. Phil came out and was right there! I could have reached out and touched him! We even made eye contact at one point (haha, I'm such a dork!). They moved me half way through so they could have a guest sit there. Which was kinda cool because they put me right at the end of the walkway where him and Robin walk out at the end of the show so they walked right past me. I missed the airing of the 2nd show because I was travelling but Erich watched it and said they showed him once and me once or twice. I need to get copies of the tapings so we can always have them. It was fun times!

After the Dr. Phil show we headed a couple blocks down the road to the famous Pinks. It was really good! They had pictures of all the famous people that had eaten there. They said they often get Royals Royce and other fancy cars pulling up getting the dogs to go!

After lunch we headed to downtown Hollywood to do a little sight seeing and check out the Walk of Fame.

LOTS of interesting people hang out down there. There were people dressed up as all sorts of things.
Our favorite being Tarzan. Fake snakes and all!

We drove around Beverly Hills after we left Hollywood. Holy moly, some people have a lot of money! It was a really gorgeous area and most of the houses are just ridiculous! We drove past the Spelling mansion and just up the road from there was the playboy mansion. Couldn't really see much because of the big gates but you could tell they were massive that's for sure!

And then, after all the craziness and worldly things we saw that day, it was really refreshing to stop by the beautiful LA temple. We went in the visitors center and spoke with one of the sweetest sister missionaries. She taught us a lot about the history of the temple. It's one of the biggest, a whopping 90,000 square feet! It sits atop a hill overlooking LA and the pacific ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous!

Kind of a crappy picture but I loves him!


:: Day 3 ::

Day 3 we spent at Knotts Berry Farm. It was so awesome because there was no one there! We didn't have to wait in one single line. We rode all the rides in the park in like 3 hours and then went back around and rode our favorites again...and again. It was great!

I love the log rides, they're my favorite. The one at Knotts is the best one I've ever been on!


:: Day 4 ::

Day 4 we took the whole day and drove the coast. We started our drive just north of Malibu and drove the Pacific Coast Highway all the way down to Laguna Beach in Orange County, stopping at all the beaches along the way. That drive is GORGEOUS. The pictures above are at the beach in Malibu. Apparently that is where Baywatch was filmed. It was a little cloudy but still warm so we took a dip in the ocean. We also came across a sea lion. Still don't know if it was dying or just really tired but he was not moving for nothin! We walked right up to him. He opened his eyes and looked at us but didn't seem to mind us being that close to him!

Bare feet in the sand is the best!

These pictures are at the end of our journey at Laguna Beach. It's such a cute little town and the beach and views are just beautiful. We walked along the beach for a couple hours exploring and then walked back to our car through the town as we stopped at all the fun little shops. 

Another great day down.


:: Day 5 ::

We woke up early on day 5 and headed to hike to the Hollywood sign. Its only about a mile and a half up and the view are absolutely amazing.
Definitely a must do if you're in the area!

Up we go.

We made it! It was really bright and I forgot my sunglasses!

Everything was fenced off and there were cameras all around. Definitely no getting to the sign without getting caught!

Still a little morning haze lingering. By the time we started heading down it was all cleared up.

From there we headed over to the LA Zoo. This gorillas name is Kelly and she was born the same year as me. We're basically sisters. :)

Our last stop of the day was the Warner Brothers studio tour. Definitely one of our favorite things we did!
Our tour guide was awesome and we got to see a lot of movie and tv sets. It was awesome!

You might recognize this theater. It's at the beginning of the movies for AMC. It's the theater the teens are walking into.

Stanley Ipkiss' apartment in the Mask.

Our tour guide said it wasn't very often the tours got to see "dressed sets". Normally they will close off the areas they are in the process of filming in. In this case they were just starting to set things up so we got to see it all. They basically take ghost towns and turn them into amazingly detailed movie sets for whatever era/town the movie is set in. It's crazy all that goes into it. Pretty cool stuff!

The big warehouse where they make a lot of the sets.

Some of the original vehicles.

Our tour guide turned off his mike and told us around the corner would be Ashton Kutchers trailer. I guess they have been really strict and protective of him and Two and a Half Men so he wasn't suppose to tell us whose trailer it was, or drive past it. But he told us anyway and quickly drove by. The trailer was huge! The door was open as we went by and we could see the huge spiral staircase. Didn't see Ashton though!

Aww...the Friends stage. It makes me sad whenever I think they don't film it anymore. :(

They still have the Central Perk set all set up. We weren't suppose to cross the carpet let alone sit on the couch but our tour guide shut the door and said we could hurry and look around and get pictures! (I mentioned he was awesome right?!) Pretty much the best day of my life! I got to sit on the actual Friends couch. Eeek! So awesome!

Oh Friends...how I miss you!


:: Day 6 ::

Muscle beach on Santa Monica Pier. I guess this is the beach Arnold Schwarzenegger used to always work out at. Our tour guide on the Malibu homes tour told us that when he first moved to California, he moved to Santa Monica. He loved it so much he quickly started buying up property. He owns a ton of real estate there and is frequently seen around town.

Pacific Park on Santa Monica Pier. The roller coaster was so much fun! I think we went on it like 10 times.

On the ferris wheel.

Dolphins!

We rented bikes and road along the beach from Santa Monica to Venice beach.

We took a Malibu celebrity homes tour. Above are just a few of the houses we saw. A few others were Adam Sandler, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Jeff Bridges, Mathew Perry, James Cameron, Cindy Crawford, Pink, etc. I was surprised how many of them live so close together!

Beach front property. Adam Sandlers house is just a couple houses down. Must be nice!

That night we headed back into Hollywood to go to Madame Tussauds wax museum.

We met lots of celebrities. Too bad none of them were real!

Haha, this ones my favorite!


:: Day 7 ::

Day 7 was spent at Six Flags. We were too busy going on awesome rides to take very many pictures.


:: Day 8 ::

Before we had to catch our plane on Monday we headed to Malibu for one last walk on the beach and a nice lunch at Coogies Beach Cafe. On our Malibu celebrity homes tour the guide said that was a popular place to eat for the celebrities. I see why, it was soooo dang good!


Happy two years my love. Thanks for making them so much fun!