California Dreamin'

Sean and I just got back from a quick little get-away (just the 2 of us) to LA. We left last Friday and got back on Monday. The trip was FANTASTIC...until Monday. More on that in a bit...


The trip started off on a great note -- we ran into Ron Artest in the airport in LA and I was able to get his autograph (but alas, no picture!). He was trying unsuccessfully to be incognito, but a 7' tall guy with a huge Louis Vuitton bag and sunglasses is a bit conspicuous if you ask me! As if that wasn't enough excitement, when we got to Enterprise to pick up our rental car, we were able to get a super deal on a BMW! We got to drive in style on our weekend trip. Instead of a Corolla, we were cruising around town in a 328i. Woo-hoo! I felt like rockstars! (Here is a picture of our spiffy ride -- might be the only time we ever get to drive a BMW!!):

We arrived at the hotel and checked-in. The good news just kept coming...when we got to our room, we realized that they had upgraded us to a bigger room with a balcony/patio! This trip was turning out to be a lucky one for us!! Our room:

We headed down to the Santa Monica Pier and rode the Ferris Wheel and played some arcade games (and I got my "Banana Caramel" iced drink from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf -- YUM!!) We also spent a whopping $12 trying to win a stuffed bear for Bella but weren't successful. Stupid game! We spent a few hours just walking around the pier and the beach area, then headed back to the hotel. We were spent from the day and Sean's bum ankle was acting up. Instead of heading out for dinner, we picked up some food from Whole Foods and sat out on the patio and ate. It was quite nice!

Saturday was a super fun day -- DISNEYLAND!! We spent just about all day there and had a blast. Lots of pictures with the Disney characters and we even got to watch little kids become Jedi's. FUN!! I even rode Space Mountain...which I will never EVER do again (can you say SCARY!). We tried to make it to 9:30 PM so we could see the fireworks but decided to cut out early. After all, we'd spent a small fortune on souvenirs and food, so we figured it was best to head home. Of course, a trip to Disney isn't complete without losing your car in the parking garage, so we had to make sure that happened! Let me tell you...losing your car at Disney is not a fun time. Luckily Sean managed to track it down and we were headed back "home".

Sunday was DODGERS day! We had tickets to watch the Dodgers play the Angels at 1:10 PM, but needed to fill our morning with stuff to do, first. So...we drove aimlessly around Beverly Hills and Bel Air. We even drove onto the UCLA campus -- GORGEOUS! UCLA is directly across the street from Bel Air. I can't imagine going to school across the street from multi-million dollar homes! On our way to the stadium, we stopped off and bought a super-cheesy touristy "Star Map" ( you know...the map with the addresses of movie stars on it ). We decided we'd stalk some stars after the game.


So we head to Dodger Stadium. After sitting in the car waiting for the darn gates to open, we finally make it to the parking area. Then we get to walk miles before we get to the gate to get in. Turns out, their website is a big fat liar when it said gates open 2-hours prior to game time. Apparently, it's 1-hour before game time. So we got to mill around outside until the security gurus decide to let us in. Once the gates opened, we find out that Sean's backpack is apparently too large to come into the stadium (?!). So...he has to check it at the gate. They give him a very stylish plastic bag (think grocery bag) to put whatever he can fit into it. Obviously, we are not having a good time by this point.


We finally make it into the stadium and scout out the food choices. We settle on Dodger dogs, then try to find our seats. We walk over to where we think our seats are (right by the gate where we checked Sean's backpack) only to find out that the brainiacs at Dodger Stadium decided to make one side even-numbered rows and the completely opposite side odd-numbered rows. Go figure...our seats were on the odd-numbered side so we got to walk all the way around the stadium (with our food/drinks!) to find our seats. UGH!

We finally got to our seats and settle in for the game. It took about 5 minutes for me to be thankful that we brought sunblock with us. Dodger Stadium = open air stadium = HOT! My Lord were we hot. At this point I was thanking God that Minute Maid Park is a closed-roof stadium WITH AC (and escalators!). Anywho...the game starts and it didn't take long for us to realize that games in LA are very, VERY different than games in H-town? Here is my little top-10 list of the differences:


Top 10 Ways a Game at Dodger Stadium Differs from a Game at Minute Maid Park:
10. No escalators (this point was driven home on the way out of the stadium)
9. Skinny concourses = much difficulty getting through crowds when you have an arm full of food!
8. BEACH BALLS!
7. Palm trees in the outfield
6. SUNSHINE
5. No chili or cheese on hotdogs
4. Snowcones (with hair in them...ask Sean about this)
3. Lots and lots of profanity (apparently Dodger fans hate Angels' fans)
2. Chance to catch a game ball after every inning (home team outfielder tosses ball to crowd after every inning)
1. BLOODS AND CRIPS FOUR ROWS BACK!!


We left the game in the 8th inning. The Dodgers were losing and did I mention we were sweating buckets? It was a long walk back to the car (see #10 above!). Since we had to check Sean's backpack upon entering, we couldn't just exit the stadium right outside our seats (oh no...that would have been far too convenient). No...we had to walk all the way to the other side, grab his packpack, then walk back to where we just came from. Good times, I tell ya!


After the game, we drove around Bel Air and stalked celebrities' homes! We found Aaron Spelling's house, the Playboy Mansion, and Debra Messing's house. I know we drove by dozens more but it's hard to drive really slowly without worrying about the law coming after you.


After scouting houses, we happened upon a lovely little park smack dab in the middle of Bel Air. As we are stopped at a traffic light, we see 2 really pretty girls about to get into their cars. Sean jokingly says, "I bet those are celebrities". Then, a second later, he says, "Oh my God...I think that's Jessica Alba." Sure 'nuff, there was Jessica Alba hugging her friend goodbye and getting into her white Toyota Prius. I'm not a huge Jessica Alba fan but I must say that she looked AMAZING! Super skinny, chic black outfit, and gorgeous long brunette hair with the perfect waves on the end. We were both in shock! We drove around the park and Jessica passed us in her little white eco-car! Unbelievable!! We parked the car and got out, hoping to see other celebs, but no such luck. We did, however, enjoy our walk through this adorably cozy park! Lots of people with cute doggies, people laying in the grass enjoying the nice weather...just a scene out of a Norman Rockwell painting!!


Monday morning, we headed to the airport for our flight back home. We got to the airport, checked in, and waited patiently for our boarding to begin. About an hour before our scheduled depature, we notice that our flight time had changed from 9AM to 10:30 AM. Little did we know that this would be the start of a very LONG day! Long story short...our 9AM flight ended up leaving LA at 6:15 in the evening - 9 HOURS LATE! We didn't pull into our driveway until a bit past midnight on Tuesday morning. What a day! Had our flight not left when it did, we would have been stuck in LA until mid-day on Tuesday! Our 3 nights away from Bella turned into four since we weren't going to wake her up at midnight when we landed. God bless my mom for being a trooper and ensuring us that all was well in Houston. She took such good care of Bella that Bella had no idea what her mommy and daddy were going through. And as if a 9 hour delay isn't bad enough, we hit some pretty nasty turbulence about an hour from home that left me in hysterics (crying, hyperventilating on the plane) and that was capped off with a guy in the back of the plane who had a seizure 30 minutes from landing. So when we finally reached our gate in Houston, we all had to stay put so medics could come on board and get him off the plane. Needless to say we were very, VERY happy to pull into our driveway on early Tuesday morning.


So there you have it...our little mini-vacation/adventure. Sean and I really did have a great time. We were able to have fun and relax a bit, which was much needed. Best of all, Bella had a great time with her grammie. Not sure we'll be visiting LA again anytime soon (or any airport for that matter!) but it was a nice break.