A Quick Getaway

I went on a quick, last minute getaway with two of my sister-in-laws the beginning of October to LA.  We flew (from Utah and Northern California) in to LA early on Friday morning to get the most out of our weekend.

Once we got our rental car and made it to the hotel (The Marriott Renaissance in Hollywood) we parked and set out to explore!



Our hotel was in a great location.  Right at Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Ave. 

We started out at Grayman's Theatre.

We saw lots of foot-prints and hand-prints from the Stars.  I decided to take a picture of the Harry Potter group for my kids.

As we walked down Hollywood Blvd. we checked out the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  I had to have my picture taken with Mickey Mouse's star.

Kellie and Tina decided to pose with Shrek!

On Hollywood Blvd. there is this little store where everything is $10 (hence the name of the store).  However, every time we went by they were having a $6.99 sale for the next 10 minutes only.  The only catch was that you had to have your items in the blue basket.  The workers, especially the one pictured between Kellie and I were a little exuberant.  It didn't take us long (a couple of minutes) to realize that everything was always $6.99!  It was actually a pretty good marketing ploy and made us laugh.  We actually did go back another day to buy a few things and take a picture.

Our hotel was also in the same complex as the Kodak Theatre. 

We also had a great view of the Hollywood sign!

We went back toward our hotel and stopped at CPK for lunch.  We had a take a picture.  Unfortunately, our room still wasn't available so we were off for more picture taking and exploring.

Kellie, me and Tina

We decided to head into a wax museum (that was not Madame Tussaud's).  Some of the wax figures looked more life-like than others, but this was one of the highlights of our trip.  We laughed a ton and took a lot of fun pictures!

Tina and Kellie posing with Hugh.

Titanic anyone?

Forrest Gump

I'm sure the people walking behind us were tired of taking our pictures, but when we came to Charlie's Angels Tina said, "Look, it's us! The Asian, The Blond and the Brunette!"  We had to get one more picture!

We also got to to to the Guiness World Records Museum with our tickets to the Hollywood Wax Museum.  This was very outdated, but we still found out some interesting facts!

Then, we were finally able to check into our hotel.  We had a comfortable suite on the 19th floor facing the Hollywood hills and Hollywood sign.  We had two king-sized beds, a large bathroom and large sitting area.  (We also had a mini-bar that we found out was pressure sensitive!  We promise we didn't drink the Vodka although we were worried that we were going to be charged for it!)  After checking in, we drove around Beverly Hills, Rodeo drive and looked at some interesting houses.  Then, we went to dinner and to see "The Help" at a hole-in-the-wall movie theater in Beverly Hills.

Once the movie was over, we headed back to the hotel.  What was originally a 15 minute drive there, turned into an hour long drive home.  Who knew there was that much traffic at 11:00 at night?

On Saturday, we spent a day at the hotel spa.  We each had a massage, a pedicure, and spent time relaxing.

Saturday night we headed out to dinner and then went to see Cirque Du Soleil "Iris" in the Kodak Theatre.

It was nice to not have to drive anywhere and just be able to walk over.

Sunday, we enjoyed a quiet morning.  We walked around a few shops.

Stopped at Crumbs Bakery again ...  (YUM!!!)

And said goodbye to our beautiful view! (Yes, that is the Hollywood sign!)

 

Then, we headed to the Santa Monica Pier for a bit of sight-seeing before making our way back to the airport.  Kellie ended up on our flight to Oakland.  When she booked her ticket back to Utah, she knew she had a stop somewhere, but when her ticket came she found out it was in Oakland.

Even though I wasn't sure I should go because it was right before the Book Fair, I'm so glad I did!  We had a wonderful time and it was nice to just have some time together with just the girls.  Where to, next year ladies?