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Saturday, January 25, 2014

California Part II





   During the whole trip, my most listened to song was California by Phantom Planet. You know the one where it goes "We've been on the run. Driving in the sun. Looking out for number 1. California here we come  Right back where we started from" and then it goes like  "Driving down the 101. California here we come. Right back where we started from". Well, I was actually driving down that 101 road. On our first day in California, we had to drop off the lobster load in downtown LA. If you're familiar with Los Angeles, it was really close to Little Tokyo. Downtown wasn't what I thought it was. First of all, there's not many skyscrapers and it looked really small. Moreover, I realized that la la land wasn't all pretty and fancy. I got to see a lot of homeless people carrying all their belongings in a shopping cart. It really opened my eyes.

 Dropping off the load can take several hours, so I got hungry. We all are familiar to Ice Cream trucks, but what about Mexican Food trucks? My father and I went to get ourselves a morning burrito; eggs, bacon,sausages in a pita bread. Great stuff I tell you. When we were finally done unloading, we parked the truck in Ontario,California and took a taxi with another truck driver from Texas. He was really nice guy but was really opened about guns! He told us he once went to Canada with his wife's gun and the customs wouldn't let him pass with it. It made my father and I laugh. Those Americans and there guns huh! 

Hollywood Historical Hotel



    The taxi dropped us off at the airport where we rented a Ford Fiesta at hertz  so it would be less complicated to drive around with a small car than with a big 18 wheeler. As I said before, there was no traffic what so ever in LA because everyone was gone for the holidays.It was the middle of the day and we decided to go look out for a hotel.   We thought we wouldn't have a problem finding one close to Hollywood Blvd. Wrong we were. The only hotel available was "Hollywood Historic Hotel" on Melrose.  After a good, long, well deserved shower, we got ready for New Years Eve at Citywalk.( I couldn't emphasize how good that shower was. On the road, we only stopped at truck stop showers every two days).

   For those not familiar with Citywalk. It's this great place at Universals Studios where Justin Bieber's video "Baby" was shot. It's a must go for every Beliebers. Citywalk was probably my favorite place. We ate at this excellent restaurant called"Bubba Gump". If you've ever watched Forrest Gump, you should know what it is. It was such a fun restaurant. 
City Walk at New Years Eve 2012

  They had a Forrest Gump trivia and a lot of stuff from the movie. A must for Forrest Gump fans! For dessert, we stopped at Yougourtland. The typical california dessert place. Don't we all have those people on Instagram who keeps taking picture of their frozen yogurt? (I'll admit it, I posted a picture of it on Instagram). The atmosphere at citywalk was amazing. There was a DJ spinning great tracks and everyone was singing along. It was my first time doing something that awesome for new years eve. At midnight, (it was actually 3am back home) the fireworks went off. Who doesn't love New Years fireworks?

   The next morning, we decided to go eat breakfast at Denny's so it could be fast and we could have more time on Hollywood Blvd. When we parked the car, I looked behind me and I froze. It was the first time of the whole trip I actually saw the Hollywood sign. I was speechless and I felt a tear coming out of my eye. After seeing it in a gazillion movies, I was actually seeing it in front of me. I don't think anyone could get used to that view. Close to the restaurant, there was a high school. Imagine having a math class and looking out the window and seeing the Hollywood sign! Too good to be true.


Hollywood Sign


   After a very fast breakfast, we headed down sunset blvd where theres palm trees on both side of the road to Hollywood blvd. Hollywood blvd is great to see a bunch of people dressed as superheroes, 
Michael Jackson's house
charlie chapman and even some status. While my father think their pathetic, I thought they were pretty awesome! We bought ticket for a Hollywood tour and to kill time, we decided to go look for some famous hollywood stars. The walk of fame is amazing! It goes on for miles and miles. The stars are all facing in every direction and it's so hard to try to snap a picture without getting stepped on. When we finally saw MJ's and Ellen Degenres' star, it was time for the tour. I got to see a bunch of celebrity houses such as Michael Jackson's, Iron Man's, Madonna's, Ellen Degeneres' and more! Did you know, Ellen bought a second  house because you could see her first house from that other house? Crazy right. Pretty much, all I saw of her house was her gate.

Beverly Hills



  On the tour, we even drove into Beverly Hills.  You know you're in Beverly Hills when there's a Lamborghini in front of you and two range rover behind you. Trust me, I didn't see one small car! We got to see more celebrity houses there and the hotel in "Hotel California" by the Eagles. There's so much more I could tell you about the tour but, i'll stop there. If you're ever in the LA area. Take a tour, it's worth it!



    The driver dropped us off at the Chinese Theatre. It's a movie theatre where there's a bunch of celebrity's hand and foot print in the cement.  The Theatre was
Obama and I at the wax museum
packed and we could barely moved so, we decided to go visit Madame Tussaud's wax museum instead which was next to the theatre. Madame Tussaud's wax museum was probably one of the highlights of my trip. Even though we were short on time, I got to take a picture with every statue I wanted to.



    Afterwards, my father and I headed down to the Staples Center to watch a Lakers game. Can I tell you how good the nachos at a basketball game taste? Defenitly a must have! The whole game was a blast, Kobe
Lakers game
was really good and it was overall a great experience. We bought a foam finger and cheered on the Lakers.


  After the game, we head back to Ontario, California and slep in the truck. Our short Los Angeles experience was now over. However, the roadtrip wasn't over. I still haven't talked about Texas yet!


To be continued...

(I know it's been a long time since part I but I just fond part II, I forgot that I had written it. I guess i'll continue even though it's been a year)

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