23rd November - shops
Our last full day of the trip. Ryan headed off with friends to exciting stuff. He apparently went to Venice Beach but couldn't see the water for the fog.
The rest of us headed to shops. A Sears, lines a mile long. 3 quilt shops, a Subway for lunch, a BevMo, a WalMart and a Dennys for dinner.
We have arranged additional luggage through Qantas for Susan and Geoff is bringing a trailer to the airport to get her home. I'm being serious here!
Given so much waiting time today I managed to finish my book and so can start a new one on the flight home.
22nd November - Disneyland
Thanksgiving Day and all is quiet.
The ladies and Ryan headed for Disneyland.
Rayls and I headed for the movies, the GPS got us to a nice residential area but after some sorting out we managed to find the AMC Cinema in Fullerton - saw the Denzel Washington movie "Flight", what an absolute dud.
Most of the shops are closed. After the movie, back to the hotel for a rest.
The gang seemed to enjoy their day at Disneyland. Ryan got soaked on Splash Moutain, I believe Susan and Leanne didn't after using Ryan as a shield.
We all got together at 8:30pm for dinner at the next door restaurant, Black Angus. May of the shops opened at 9:00pm for the Black Friday sale so we walked to Target but the lines were over a hundred metres long so no purchaes.
21st November - Hollywood
Today the ladies checked out the Target store near the hotel whilst Ryan and I checked out a nearby Frys Electrical store.
At noon we all headed back along that dreaded I5 in the same heavy traffic as yesterday.
We checked out Rodeo Drive and the main Hollywood area before heading to the Warner Brothers Studio for a taping of the sitcom Mike and Molly.
Afterwards we had dinner on Sunset Boulevard before getting back to the hotel just before midnight.
20th November - Universal
The original plan to do Disneyland today was changed when Ryan found he had West Aussie mates in LA who were doing Universal Studios today. Rayls and I have done Universal a number of times before so Ryan took the three ladies with him and Rayls and I would pick them up later. Sadly took a lot longer to negotiate the dreaded I5 and a desperate fuel stop meant they got to Universal later than expected.
Rayls and I set out for a Kohls and ended up at at Sears where we spent an hour and I bought my first ever pair of Levi Jeans ($24).
We headed north towards Universal fairly early, we had agreed to pick up the ladies at 2:00pm unless advised otherwise. I5 was very slow, LA traffic, wow! Took around 50 minutes to do the 45 K's.
We stopped at our friend Scott McKenzie's house. Scott passed away on 18th August but we walked around the area we had walked with him last time we were there. It was sad the see Scott's house obviously unoccupied - he had lived there a long time. It was our way of remembering Scott as were unable to attend the rememberance ceremony. Along the way we met Charlotte and her two dogs Meadow and Howard (a young rescue dog who had a bucket around his head). We chatted a few minutes about Scott.
We had lunch at a Subway, Leanne texted to advse a 3:00pm so we killed more time before we picked up the ladies.
Ryan stayed with is mates till mid afternoon and then headed to the Staples Centre where he watched the LA Lakers play the Brooklyn Nets.
The rest of us went to Glendale Galleria where the ladies checked out a Jo-Anns and then we all checked out the sensational Christmas display. Dinner at a Stabucks and then the drive back to the hotel.
19th November - to LA
A later start today, Ryan needed something for a friend from the Nike store in Caersars Palace, that took tome as you have to walk across the road, into the hotel - throught the massive casino area and located the Forum Shops and then walk through the shops to the very back end where the store was. Then back to the hotel and join up with the ladies at 10:30am, load the cars and off we go to LA, a bit over a 4 hour drive away on I15.
We stopped for lunch just short of Barstow at Yermo where Peggy Sue 1950's Diner is located. Cool place.
Back on the road and arrived at our hotel around 5:00pm. We have a Days Inn, big step down from the Bellagio but then it is a quarter of the price.
We all had dinner at Outback Steakhouse, as Aussie as a Kiwi.