Weekend Cheeriness

This weekend I had a wonderful and much-needed break from the hum-drum of illness and boredom and hosted a visitor from long ago, Travjohn. We ran around on committees together at Rice. We lived in adjacent stairwells. Our roommates married each other. But we'd been out of touch for quite a while.

The party started Friday evening at Hermosa Beach Pier, where we looked around a little before dinner and sunset on a restaurant rooftop. We shared many many stories.

Saturday we headed Hollywood-way. We had a picnic breakfast in Griffith Park, which affords a great view of the "Hollywood" sign. I even wore my Hollywood sunglasses.

After that we went to Rodeo drive to spot celebrities. Didn't see any of those, but did see plenty of Bentleys, Maseratis, and Ferraris. Travjohn "fit in" with the local crowd.

We drove around Beverly Hills for a while and looked at the huuuuuge houses, some beautiful and some not-so-much. I spotted a Tesla, and now finally know who buys those things. A little more touring around the area, then to Venice Beach, where we spotted crazy people, dogs, and vendors of every useless product imaginable.

At night we saw "Observe and Report" at Grauman's Chinese Theater. The movie wasn't so good - it had its funny moments but it was also way over the top. For instance, there was a scene where Seth Rogen chases a flasher through the mall for WAY longer than necessary, with full frontal nudity in motion and everything. As the credits were rolling, I noticed the guys in front of me high-fiving one particular guy. On second look, I realized it was the actor who played the flasher! We finally had our celebrity sighting (and we saw a LOT of him)!

After that, we walked up and down Hollywood Blvd looking at the hand/footprints, stars, and impersonators. A Storm Trooper referred to me as Julie Andrews (don't know why), then I stepped on Julie Andrews' hand print, then on her star, all by accident! Travjohn and I also realized that we had some resemblances to celebrities ourselves. Check it out!

Sunday we drove through Long Beach down to Orange County and had lunch in Newport Beach. Sadly, that was the end of our visit. The weather couldn't have been more beautiful, the sights nicer, or the company better.