Last day.

 20 January

Always check the weather the day before your plans, and not depend on Steve's comments from 4 days earlier.

Today was our last day in LA - we were intending to check out of our hotel and then spend the day completing some of Belle and Steve's check list of things to do (not Disney), before heading to the airport around 6pm.

On waking, it was overcast and raining (or what Isabelle's watch indicated as misting). We had talked about heading out to Venice beach, but some of you may remember from our last holiday, that Venice Beach pretty much shuts down in wet weather and is a pretty scary place to be. While rain didn't rule out a walk along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the idea of sitting in a plane for 17hrs in wet clothes didn't make it sound too inviting either.

We actually went with an alteration of Joshua's initial request, purchasing a DIY homes of the stars tour. I had initially eliminated this option, feeling it to be an intrusion of privacy, but thought a diy might be a cheaper and less invasive option and a dry way to spend the day.

I'm not sure I would rave about the tour as sometimes you would see nothing more than a hedge surrounding what was possibly a ginormous property, or you would miss the house because the picture didn't quite match the description or the cited number. What the tour did do though, was take us on an amazing adventure through parts of Hollywood, Bellaire, Beverley Hills and the LA Hills/Mountains that we probably wouldn't have gone to otherwise. Some of the areas and homes were spectacular and mixed amongst old bungalow and low key homes.

No we didn't see any stars. We did see a guy working on Keanu Reeves porche in an open garage which Steve and the kids freaked out thinking it was the star himself. There was also an uncomfortable moment when a security guard stepped out from behind a wall at Leonardo DiCaprio's home at the end of a cul-de-sac. If I am correct, Robert Pattinson didn't appear to live in a palatial home, in fact, it looked a little small and run down (relatively speaking), but based on glimpses of view from other nearby homes, I am sure that the other side of the fence was a completely different story. The idea of the "Star Tour'" I thing made us all a bit uncomfortable. None of us wanted to hover around the homes, particularly in the very very wealthy looking areas, and often the roads in the hills were tight and small so there was no time. But going out of our way to see these areas was definitely worth the $20 we paid.

The tour finishes on a spectacular view of the Hollywood sign.

At Joshua's request we finished the day with a last Shake Shack burger and then off to the airport for our last leg home. 

We are all very ready to be home and the kids cant wait to see Willow and Sammie. Joshua mentioned a little over a week ago that while he wanted to make the holiday go longer, he also really wanted to be at home and wanted to know how you can have the best of both worlds. That's what you call bitter sweet!

LA Fun

19 January

On our way back from Vegas I gave the kids the special task of coming up with their top three things that they wanted to do with their 2 free days in LA. One of Isabelle's requests was to go back to Disney (Joshua concurred) - while we did consider it briefly, fortunately there were no available tickets. Phew! Joshua wanted to do a tour of the homes of Hollywood Stars and go to the Automotive Museum. 

So we headed towards the Automotive Museum. On the way we checked out some of the notable landmarks nearby. First stop included the Original LA Farmers Markets - I think there was one stall that may have had fresh fruit and veg, a couple that did meet products, otherwise most stalls were produce made by local's e.g., pizza, doughnuts, pastries and even the option to sample 30 different pickles. While, with thanks to Joshua, I have learnt to enjoy a good pickle on a burger, neither Joshua or I were ready to head to taste testing and sampling of pickles. We managed to pick out some nice pizza slices for lunch - these were possibly the best pizza we had tasted since arriving here. It had a beautiful crunchy base. Steve and I have both come to the conclusion that there is something delish and simple about a good pepperoni pizza. 

On route to the Automobile Museum, we found a couple of famous public artworks at the LACMA, including the Urban Light and Levitating Mass. 

While you are able to walk through and under this art work, you are not allowed
to sit on the cement walls that run along the side - we know this because Steve and I,
who were perched on it towards the end of the walkway while waiting for the kids, 
were asked to not sit on the art. Possibly 5 minutes before, I had made a comment
about whether the walls were considered part of the art and if we were being 
inappropriate by sitting on the wall. Apparently I was right. I don't agree or disagree with
the request, especially as it is not my art work, but I do think it opens the discussion
about the ability to interact with the art -especially when it is in such a public place
(and considering the very un-delicate piece of  cement I was sitting on. Steve was very
miffed by the request). 

I don't think I was able to do this art work justice, and I wonder if it is more effective at night?

I was a little surprised by Joshua's request to see the Petersen Automotive Museum, which is possibly why I didn't mind accommodating this particular request. I was possibly even more surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The building itself is a piece of artwork.

I think Joshua may have taken a photo of each of the cars in the collection. Here is a sample of some of the standouts.

Although the bottom floor was said to have had a focus on the future of cars 
and electric cars, I would suggest that it was sponsored by Tesla. With the 
exception of a note about a collaboration between Toyota and Tesla, everything 
was otherwise Tesla on this floor. 

Its a shame Joshua didnt get a side profile of this car as it was beautiful. 

Joshua and I had a fun little game going trying to find the fasted car - this car, 
made in post war Japan from fibre glass and three wheels, was not one of them.

On the top floor there is an entire section dedicated to vehicle that featured 
in moves. A lot of the cars were concept pieces. I'm not sure what car this is now, 
or from which movie it was from, but this was the one car that I felt the need to 
sample on the road. Not sure what it was, but the interior and exterior just looked 
graceful. 

Bumble Bee from transformers.

Also transformers.

No explanation required.

According to Joshua, although there was no horsepower or speed indicated on the commentary,
this was of course the fasted car in the museum.

Universal Hollywood - take 2!

 18 January 

It seems a little absurd that we should have scheduled another trip to Universal when we had already spent three days there on the other side of the country. Especially given there were no real roller coasters here. Joshua seemed to agree and had been protesting the plan for a couple of weeks. During the planning stages of the holiday I think we thought it would be a good chill day to sign out the holiday - unfortunately at the time of booking I was some what distracted and possibly didn't think through the options so well.

Not to worry, the end result was access to more Butterbeer!

The virtual roller coasters are all pretty much replicated between the east and west coast. The only variation being:

•  The new "Secret Life of Pets" ride - cute, but not ideal for entertaining teens, and certainly far, far, far from being a thrill ride

• The new and raved about "Super Nintendo World" - while this world looked super fun and very cleverly decorated, its championed Mario Cart Browser Challenge was an epic flop. We managed to get on this ride with a 15 minute wait time so I don't think our opinions were unique. This said to be "ground-breaking," ride using "cutting edge technology," was kind of meant to be a live ride in electronic game race. Steve and I thought perhaps it was a generational issue, but both Isabelle and Joshua thought it was a waste of time - and that is despite Isabelle going back for a second turn just to be sure she hadn't missed anything. 

Overall, we did have a really nice day. It wasn't busy so we could really take our time and enjoy the environment and rides - even Joshua!

LV to LA

 17 January

A bit of a slow lazy start today as we headed out to LA. But first, a stop at "Gold and Silver," for Steve and Joshua. Anyone familar with the reality show, "Pawn Stars," will be familiar with this name. I didnt venture in, but Joshua couldnt resist spending some money on a Pokemon card which he says was in mint condition and a steal. None of the stars were sighted with them all being on holidays and not due back until next week.

A lazy drive back down the strip for a final look, and then on our way down the highway. Our first stop, the Seven Magic Mountains. Fortunately, the 10km off Highway detour didn't result in a one way return and we could easily head in the right direction to return to the Highway. 

We had intended to do some hiking at the Mojave National Preserve, but although we missed the turn off, it turned out that most of the interest points were closed anyway. Our only other stop was at a 60's themed Peggy Sue Diner. Regardless, it was not a boring car drive. Most of the journey crossed the Mojave Desert -the landscape was constantly changing from cragged rocky mountains, boulder filled rolling hills, volcano crust remains and rolling sand dunes.

I forgot how mountainous LA and the surrounding area was. 

We arrived directly to our hotel by Universal Hollywood and off to diner in Universal Hollywood City. We dined at the Chocolate Emporium where the kids and I made the mistake of ordering two deserts to share between the three of us. The reality was that one desert would have fed four of us! So Big it was nauseating.

LV Day 2

16 January

LV is one of those places where 1 day isnt enough and 2 days is tooooooo long.

A dedicated day to go to Meow Wolfe Omega Mart "Museum." Again, this was an immersive / interactive exhibit, which I think was more of a pun on society, consumerism and commercialisation - but hey, we were probably stung again and the whole message was lost on us. Lets not talk about how the commersials sold this as being way better than what it was. Even poor Isabelle, who was desperate to see this exhibit, tried so hard to want to like it, but came out bitterly disapointed. 

We probably would have preferred to have taken the kids to see a show, but we really landed in LV on the wrong days with most of the better shows being either day of our stay.

We otherwise trapsed through Little Caesers, Venice Venice, and took a closer look at the sphere. Today we had signted the sphere playing tetris, this evening was mainly images and advertising. Joshua is largely unimpressed with the Sphere, believing that he thought it had been over sold and was little more than a large TV screen. For me it is another example of doing it large.

LV is very much built to feed and entice those 7 deadly sins, or to provide an enteraining example of the sins on display. There is definately a reason this place is called sin city. Cant say we didnt partake in a bit of glutony, taking in a final Ghiardelli desert before heading back to the hotel for a final watch of the fountains. We are quite happy to be checking out tomorrow. 

LV Day 1

15 January 2024

Today was simply a lazy day of meanderning and wandering through LV. The LV Knights were playing so there was a bit of action in town during mid-afternoon. 

Steve and Joshua went to the top of New York New York to ride the roller coaster. Joshua has stated that this was the scariest ride of his life with him being fairly confident that due to his size he was not overly secure on the ride. Both seemed to enjoy it though. Mean while, Belle and I entertained ourselves grabbing a muffin at the pop up "Hello Kitty" store in the "Park" - which was completely brick paved with the exception of feature plants.

There was of course the M&M store where we managed to come away without M&Ms and the Coke store where we purchased water only. We walked the micacle mile - shopping mall that we were over by 1/2 a mile. 

As the kids were a bit older this visit we thought we would do a couple of paid events - today being the first with a visit to the Arte Museum - intented to be an immersive exhibit (P.S., it seems they slap the word onto anything here). It was OK, but not great, and I think we would say we felt a bit stung. Sales imaging made the exhibit look a bit more immersive than what it actually way.

Our piece de resistance, and main reason for being in LV, was dinner at Gordan Ramsays Burgers. Unfortunately I wasnt feeling great and had to pass on actually eating. Disappointingly, it was on the casino floor. Magnificintly, Joshua enjoyed and relished his burger, as well as mine. It was worth the adventure. ☺

Speaking of LV being larger than life - Starbucks is literally 17 floors below our room - it was a 15 min walk to get there (one way), and not because the lifts were slow. The casino we were at for Joshuas Gorgan Ramsay burger is on the opposite corner from our hotel - but we would need to allow at least 20-30 minutes to get there from our room. A lot of the main corners dont let you cross the road - you have to go up and over multiple over-head walkways. If you were lucky, and often we wernt, the up escalator was working.

In one of the rooms at Arte - this was one of the better rooms.

This room at Arte was pretty magical.

Joshua tucked away in a corner almost becomes immersed in one of 
the exhibits.

Last time we were here and visiting the Bellagio, the auditorium was decorated with Christmas plants. Today it was decorated for Chinese New Year.