We left LA mid-morning, trying to avoid traffic as much as possible. It mostly worked. Eventually we got over to the Pacific Coast Highway - what a kick! Beautiful views, amazing homes perched on the edge of cliffs or seaside. We couldn't decide which way to look, there was so much to see!
Once we got to Santa Barbara, GyPSy directed us to take CA-154, away from the shore line. At first I didn't want to, but decided to take this shorter route. Good decision! We traveled up & over the San Rafael Mountains in Los Padres National Forest. A beautiful wild ride. We arrived in Pismo in late afternoon. The Pismo Coast Village RV Resort is right on the beach! They gave us a site that is just steps away from the beach gateway. Walk up the dune & boom! you're on the beach! There is a little river that empties into the ocean right here, & there are so many different birds using it. We saw huge numbers of pelicans, ducks, sandpipers, & a heron.
The kids loved playing in the warmer water coming out of the river as it met the cooler ocean water. The carved sand reminded us of the canyons we so recently visited. Watching the water erode the sand was like watching a very speeded up version of what happened over millions of years to the rock in Utah & Arizona by the Colorado River.
I took many photos as the kids played & the sun set. It was a perfect end to the day.
If you want to see the pictures, please go to: http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/view/111839/
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Day 38: Gilmore Girls & More!
The Warner Bros. Studio Tour was a dream come true for this family! We arrived 45 minutes before the 10 am tour & enjoyed the Starbucks cafe that was right there in the gift shop/waiting area. Once called, we all assembled in a small comfortable screening room, where we watched a short film about the history of Warner Bros., including segments from the many movies & TV programs they've produced over the years.
Then, it was to the tour carts! Shaun got to sit up front in the beginning, changing with Kimi later on. We saw an alley area that's been used for many different scenes, including the upside down kiss in Spiderman. Maggie, our guide, told us that Toby Maguire had to hang upside down for 5 hours while they filmed that scene, with his nose stuffed with cottonballs & Vaseline to keep him from drowning. Not quite in keeping with the romance shown on screen!
We traveled down different "streets" that serve as front doors to apartments for characters in West Wing, Murphy Brown, Sex in the City, Gilmore Girls, & ER. Maggie explained how they will add background stuff to make the places look different & not right next door, as they really are.
Then came the moment Kimi had been praying for: Gilmore Girls!!! First, after locking up our cameras, we got to go onto the soundstage that holds the Dragonfly Inn. We not only could walk around in it, but could sit on the furniture - Kimi glowed as she settled into one of the chairs. We could see the behind-the-scenes technical tools used to create the show, & the guides answered everyone's questions. We found out that the very wordy show has about 30 pages of script more than the usual hour-long program - 30! That means they work many more hours to get each episode ready for primetime.
Back on the tram, we then rode into Stars Hollow town center. It was all dressed up as if it were almost Halloween. Maggie let the kids pick up the fire hydrant to demonstrate that many of the items in the streets & on the common were lightweight & very movable, making it easier for them to adapt the area for other uses, such as when the High School was used as the court house in Dukes of Hazzard. We were allowed to walk around a bit, but quietly, since they were filming just on the other side at "Lorelai's house". We could hear them loudly state "rolling" nearby. Suddenly, Kimi spotted Alexis Bledel, aka Rory! She was sitting off in the shade, reading (how Rory-like!). Kimi beamed with excitement!
Maggie later allowed us to take pictures of Luke's diner, so the kids quickly struck a pose & I snapped away. We didn't think it could get any better, but...
...we were brought to the Warner Bros. Museum, where we could look at many cool props & costumes from shows like Friends, ER, & the West Wing. Then, we were directed upstairs to the Harry Potter floor (yes, the entire floor!). Costumes from the Yule Ball were on display, along with Hagrid's usual outfit & his motorcycle (huge!), the time changer, the mermaid's egg, dementors, Aragog, a petrified Hermione - so many things directly from the movies. It was hard for Kimi to say goodbye to it all.
Over in Property, we also got to go into an area where Central Perk, the coffe shop in Friends, has been recreated. We were again allowed to touch the stuff & sit on the furniture. Maggie even took our picture sitting on The Couch. Then came time for the automobiles - we saw the Rumbler from Batman Begins, the Batmobile from when George Clooney was Batman, the car Ron & Harry "borrow" to fly to Hogwarts (broken windows & all), the Mystery Bus from the Scooby Doo movies & the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard movie.
This was a great tour - we had so much fun!
Then, it was to the tour carts! Shaun got to sit up front in the beginning, changing with Kimi later on. We saw an alley area that's been used for many different scenes, including the upside down kiss in Spiderman. Maggie, our guide, told us that Toby Maguire had to hang upside down for 5 hours while they filmed that scene, with his nose stuffed with cottonballs & Vaseline to keep him from drowning. Not quite in keeping with the romance shown on screen!
We traveled down different "streets" that serve as front doors to apartments for characters in West Wing, Murphy Brown, Sex in the City, Gilmore Girls, & ER. Maggie explained how they will add background stuff to make the places look different & not right next door, as they really are.
Then came the moment Kimi had been praying for: Gilmore Girls!!! First, after locking up our cameras, we got to go onto the soundstage that holds the Dragonfly Inn. We not only could walk around in it, but could sit on the furniture - Kimi glowed as she settled into one of the chairs. We could see the behind-the-scenes technical tools used to create the show, & the guides answered everyone's questions. We found out that the very wordy show has about 30 pages of script more than the usual hour-long program - 30! That means they work many more hours to get each episode ready for primetime.
Back on the tram, we then rode into Stars Hollow town center. It was all dressed up as if it were almost Halloween. Maggie let the kids pick up the fire hydrant to demonstrate that many of the items in the streets & on the common were lightweight & very movable, making it easier for them to adapt the area for other uses, such as when the High School was used as the court house in Dukes of Hazzard. We were allowed to walk around a bit, but quietly, since they were filming just on the other side at "Lorelai's house". We could hear them loudly state "rolling" nearby. Suddenly, Kimi spotted Alexis Bledel, aka Rory! She was sitting off in the shade, reading (how Rory-like!). Kimi beamed with excitement!
Maggie later allowed us to take pictures of Luke's diner, so the kids quickly struck a pose & I snapped away. We didn't think it could get any better, but...
...we were brought to the Warner Bros. Museum, where we could look at many cool props & costumes from shows like Friends, ER, & the West Wing. Then, we were directed upstairs to the Harry Potter floor (yes, the entire floor!). Costumes from the Yule Ball were on display, along with Hagrid's usual outfit & his motorcycle (huge!), the time changer, the mermaid's egg, dementors, Aragog, a petrified Hermione - so many things directly from the movies. It was hard for Kimi to say goodbye to it all.
Over in Property, we also got to go into an area where Central Perk, the coffe shop in Friends, has been recreated. We were again allowed to touch the stuff & sit on the furniture. Maggie even took our picture sitting on The Couch. Then came time for the automobiles - we saw the Rumbler from Batman Begins, the Batmobile from when George Clooney was Batman, the car Ron & Harry "borrow" to fly to Hogwarts (broken windows & all), the Mystery Bus from the Scooby Doo movies & the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard movie.
This was a great tour - we had so much fun!
Day 37: Sharks!
We arrived at the Aquarium of the Pacific bright & early, easy to do when you are walking distance from it!
What a cool aquarium! We had planned on visiting ever since we discovered that you could pet sharks there at Shark Lagoon. The sharks are the smaller non-human eating variety, & were actually bunched up together snoozing in the warm shallows like a pack of puppies. They felt softly of sandpaper, not harsh but definite friction. Sting rays, minus their barbs, were also in the tanks. They feel slippery-slimy with very firm flesh. We all prefered touching them, & they prefer it, too! They would come up close & push their heads up out of the water trying to beg for contact. The glass enclosures allowed us to see the bottoms of their bodies when they did this - creamy white color with mouths working steadily. They were a lot of fun & of course Kimi & Shaun started naming them.
There was also a lorikeet enclosure - crazy loud birds that dive bombed Kimi & me - Shaun wisely decided to window shop in the gift shop next door.
Back inside we saw an octopus, many different types of luminescent jelly fish, sea horses, puffins, etc. Great fun!
What a cool aquarium! We had planned on visiting ever since we discovered that you could pet sharks there at Shark Lagoon. The sharks are the smaller non-human eating variety, & were actually bunched up together snoozing in the warm shallows like a pack of puppies. They felt softly of sandpaper, not harsh but definite friction. Sting rays, minus their barbs, were also in the tanks. They feel slippery-slimy with very firm flesh. We all prefered touching them, & they prefer it, too! They would come up close & push their heads up out of the water trying to beg for contact. The glass enclosures allowed us to see the bottoms of their bodies when they did this - creamy white color with mouths working steadily. They were a lot of fun & of course Kimi & Shaun started naming them.
There was also a lorikeet enclosure - crazy loud birds that dive bombed Kimi & me - Shaun wisely decided to window shop in the gift shop next door.
Back inside we saw an octopus, many different types of luminescent jelly fish, sea horses, puffins, etc. Great fun!
Day 36: All I want to do, is have some fun...
...until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard. - Sheryl Crow.
Picked up the tiny Chevy we've rented for our stay. Kimi named it Twinkie. As soon as we got it we were off to explore. We didn't take GyPSy with us - this car didn't even have power locks or windows, so how could it possibly protect our GPS from theft? So, we decided to rely on basic maps & dumb luck.
After following CA Route 1 north past the Beaches (Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan, Venice) we headed back inland to find Hollywood Blvd. Kimi got a map of the blvd from the camp store, & was trying to get me to find at least one of the cross streets. Turns out Santa Monica Blvd is a good bet for finding other places. It took us through Beverly Hills into West Hollywood. We eventually found La Brea, which brought us up to Hollywood Blvd. We found on street parking a little past Mann's Chinese Theater & walked back, staring at the ground reading the stars on the Walk of Fame. We stopped by the Virgin Megastore, which is interestingly near the Fredricks of Hollywood (I'll let you muse on that a bit).
We went into the Hollywood Wax Museum, which was interesting, but no where near as high in quality, or quantity, as Madame Tussauds in NYC or London. Admission price included going across the street to the Guiness Book of Records Museum. Kind of busy & cheesy in its display of information, although we found a film clip of a million dominoes falling in a crazy-cool display to be absolutely hypnotic.
We stopped at a Whole Foods on our way home & replenished our produce stores. Then, home & a movie: Shreck II, which has a fun scene of Shreck, Fiona & Donkey arriving in downtown Far, Far Away as if they were arriving in LA, complete with a Farbucks on every corner. Somehow, it seemed appropriate.
Picked up the tiny Chevy we've rented for our stay. Kimi named it Twinkie. As soon as we got it we were off to explore. We didn't take GyPSy with us - this car didn't even have power locks or windows, so how could it possibly protect our GPS from theft? So, we decided to rely on basic maps & dumb luck.
After following CA Route 1 north past the Beaches (Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan, Venice) we headed back inland to find Hollywood Blvd. Kimi got a map of the blvd from the camp store, & was trying to get me to find at least one of the cross streets. Turns out Santa Monica Blvd is a good bet for finding other places. It took us through Beverly Hills into West Hollywood. We eventually found La Brea, which brought us up to Hollywood Blvd. We found on street parking a little past Mann's Chinese Theater & walked back, staring at the ground reading the stars on the Walk of Fame. We stopped by the Virgin Megastore, which is interestingly near the Fredricks of Hollywood (I'll let you muse on that a bit).
We went into the Hollywood Wax Museum, which was interesting, but no where near as high in quality, or quantity, as Madame Tussauds in NYC or London. Admission price included going across the street to the Guiness Book of Records Museum. Kind of busy & cheesy in its display of information, although we found a film clip of a million dominoes falling in a crazy-cool display to be absolutely hypnotic.
We stopped at a Whole Foods on our way home & replenished our produce stores. Then, home & a movie: Shreck II, which has a fun scene of Shreck, Fiona & Donkey arriving in downtown Far, Far Away as if they were arriving in LA, complete with a Farbucks on every corner. Somehow, it seemed appropriate.
Day 35: From Tumbleweeds to Palm Trees
Long difficult driving today. We started off well: Shaun's friend Duncan slept over in our RV, but his dad, Ben, picked him up right on time, so we were able to leave just after 9am, as I had hoped.
The drive out of Williams was amazing. The scenery was just constant beauty. It changed from hilly alpine forests to rugged desert mountains. Just after crossing into California, we had to sit at an inspection booth for 15-20 minutes. Since we are an RV, they had to check our refrigerator for forbidden produce - which turned out to be the red peppers & apples we had purchased in Albuquerque. Then, because we came out of MA, they had to run a visual inspection of the entire chassis seeking out any possible Gypsy moth caterpillers (even though we left MA over a month ago). The inspectors were gracious, which helped to keep me from being frustrated over the lost travel time.
As it turned out, it was fortunate I had that rest break. About 200 miles outside of LA, I noticed that the expansive view was becoming hazy. "I can't believe the smog is so bad already!" I thought. About 20 miles later, I came to realize what I was really seeing - a dust storm. The wind had been strong all day, & I had been busy at times keeping the RV from moving sideways from the gusts. This, however, was overwhelming in its intensity. We were now alongside the Mojave Desert & the winds had kicked up huge dust clouds that carried up as high as the mountains, blocking the sunlight.
Looking off to the sides, the area towns were blurry as we passed by them. Visibility dropped, not dangerously, but I changed my lights from travel to full on. The wind blew so hard that I started to weave in & out of my lane, constantly correcting my course. I dropped my speed to 50 (the legal limit was 65). That helped me maintain control enough to stay in my lane, which was becoming very important as we arrived in Barstow - traffic was congested & moving fast. Unlike me, the smaller cars didn't seem to have problems with the wind.
Heading southwest on I-15 sent us into a headwind. All of this wind adversely affected my gas mileage, so I had to stop in Victorville, just outside of LA in the San Bernardino mountains, to refuel.
Finally, we made it down the mountains & back into calmer winds. The rest of the drive was actually easy, despite having to drive a 35' vehicle across LA during a Friday evening rush hour! We easily found the campground, Golden Shore, right along the water in Long Beach.
It was supper time, & I didn't want to cook! I knew of a sushi restaurant nearby (found it doing a google search of the area months ago). We walked off to explore & discovered something better. The Pike is the place to go for food or shopping or entertainment. Planned for easy walking, its streets connecting different sections are narrow & gently curved, as if walking through an older village, albeit one that has been seriously spruced up! We ate supper at a California Pizza Kitchen, then had dessert at a Cold Stone Creamery. Walking with cups in hand, we were able to follow the boardwalk all the way back to the campground. Pelicans were floating in a group underneath the overhead highway bridge. The bridge had colored lights set beneath it, casting down green, purple, blue & aqua lights to be reflected back by the water. It was very pretty.
This morning we saw tumbleweeds as we drove away from the campsite. This evening we could see palm trees swaying right above our heads. What a wonderful world.
The drive out of Williams was amazing. The scenery was just constant beauty. It changed from hilly alpine forests to rugged desert mountains. Just after crossing into California, we had to sit at an inspection booth for 15-20 minutes. Since we are an RV, they had to check our refrigerator for forbidden produce - which turned out to be the red peppers & apples we had purchased in Albuquerque. Then, because we came out of MA, they had to run a visual inspection of the entire chassis seeking out any possible Gypsy moth caterpillers (even though we left MA over a month ago). The inspectors were gracious, which helped to keep me from being frustrated over the lost travel time.
As it turned out, it was fortunate I had that rest break. About 200 miles outside of LA, I noticed that the expansive view was becoming hazy. "I can't believe the smog is so bad already!" I thought. About 20 miles later, I came to realize what I was really seeing - a dust storm. The wind had been strong all day, & I had been busy at times keeping the RV from moving sideways from the gusts. This, however, was overwhelming in its intensity. We were now alongside the Mojave Desert & the winds had kicked up huge dust clouds that carried up as high as the mountains, blocking the sunlight.
Looking off to the sides, the area towns were blurry as we passed by them. Visibility dropped, not dangerously, but I changed my lights from travel to full on. The wind blew so hard that I started to weave in & out of my lane, constantly correcting my course. I dropped my speed to 50 (the legal limit was 65). That helped me maintain control enough to stay in my lane, which was becoming very important as we arrived in Barstow - traffic was congested & moving fast. Unlike me, the smaller cars didn't seem to have problems with the wind.
Heading southwest on I-15 sent us into a headwind. All of this wind adversely affected my gas mileage, so I had to stop in Victorville, just outside of LA in the San Bernardino mountains, to refuel.
Finally, we made it down the mountains & back into calmer winds. The rest of the drive was actually easy, despite having to drive a 35' vehicle across LA during a Friday evening rush hour! We easily found the campground, Golden Shore, right along the water in Long Beach.
It was supper time, & I didn't want to cook! I knew of a sushi restaurant nearby (found it doing a google search of the area months ago). We walked off to explore & discovered something better. The Pike is the place to go for food or shopping or entertainment. Planned for easy walking, its streets connecting different sections are narrow & gently curved, as if walking through an older village, albeit one that has been seriously spruced up! We ate supper at a California Pizza Kitchen, then had dessert at a Cold Stone Creamery. Walking with cups in hand, we were able to follow the boardwalk all the way back to the campground. Pelicans were floating in a group underneath the overhead highway bridge. The bridge had colored lights set beneath it, casting down green, purple, blue & aqua lights to be reflected back by the water. It was very pretty.
This morning we saw tumbleweeds as we drove away from the campsite. This evening we could see palm trees swaying right above our heads. What a wonderful world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)