Daryl and I left Orlando on Saturday, January 15 and arrived that night in New Orleans. Sunday morning we walked the French Quarter, had beignets at Cafe du Monde, and then drove out through the Garden District, stopping to take a picture of the house from MTV's The Real World
We were in San Antonio that night at a hotel next door to The Alamo. Monday morning we toured the RiverWalk and visited the Mission before continuing on to Tucson. No sightseeing Tuesday morning but that afternoon we were in Glendale.
We stayed five days with our friends Byron and Shephard, getting our bearings, doing some sightseeing, and prepping to move into the condo Shephard had found in downtown Glendale. We are forever indebted to them.
By the way, if you were to fly over the HOLLYWOOD sign veering towards the D, you’d be in Glendale. We can see the back of that famous hill from our living room and guest bedroom. Space-wise we lost a formal living room, formal dining room, home office, and 2-car garage so after the furniture arrived on Monday the 24th, we had to rent a small
storage unit to house a few pieces of furniture and all the Christmas decorations.
That Thursday, we attended a taping of "ellen." We got to the NBC lot at 10:15 for a 4:00pm taping. Her guests were Bonnie Hunt and American Idol Kelly Clarkson. Unfortunately, Kelly's segment was pre-recorded. And so was Houston's Super Bowl bit. If you paid close attention, you might have noticed the coffee table flowers were different in the two pre-recorded segments. You might also have noticed Shephard, Byron, Daryl and James sitting in the middle left of the audience.
The next day, our first houseguests arrived. My brother-in-law Tim and his son Nick had driven my car [with even MORE stuff in the trunk] from Orlando. The four of us visited Grauman's Chinese Theater [where we saw this large unlicensed mouse walking about], the Farmer's Market, Johnny Carson park, Santa Monica Pier and LAX. We had our first star-sighting at Mo’s Fine Foods in Burbank when we had dinner two tables away from Garry Marshall. Tim also helped me move the refrigerator and washer/dryer unit upstairs and for that I will be forever indebted.
That following week we were kind of like hostages, waiting for the original washer & dryer to be removed, the new one to be connected and for the water heater to be replaced. On Wednesday, the 2nd,though, we did the StarLine Tour and saw the residences of Halle Berry, Tobey Maguire, Lucille Ball and lots more. It was fun to drive down the street and see the Governor’s Mansion from “Benson” and the Banks’ house from “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” We walked a bit on Rodeo Drive and saw the store that was so mean to Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman.” It’s down the street from Radio Shack so we’re not sure what they have to be so snobby about.
On February 10, we did the Warner Brothers Studio Tour which was a lot of fun even though we weren’t allowed to take pictures in the museum or the soundstages. Our tour group saw the ambulance bay/receiving area from ER, visited the George Lopez set, walked through the grandparents' house from "The Gilmore Girls" and stood on the Central Perk set from "Friends," which is headed to the Smithsonian. In addition to stuff from Wonder Woman, Alice, the OC, Smallville, and Dawson's Creek, the studio museum has a whole floor of items from the three Harry Potter movies. Star-wise, we saw ER's Maura Tierney outside the makeup trailer and we got to see Noah Wyle driving by our tram. We also saw Fr
eddie Prinze Jr. and George Clooney.
On the morning of February 11th, we drove to Las Vegas to meet up with my sister Susie, my Uncle Carl and my nephew Mathew. Daryl and I had never been there so we tried to see as much as we could. We went to the Mandaly Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, New York New York, MGM Grand, Monte Carlo, Paris, Caesar's Palace, Circus Circus, and the Fremont Street Experience. Several of the hotels--like the Belllagio with its 20-foot animatronic rooster--had gone all-out for Chinese New Year.
On Saturday we drove through Lake Mead Recreation Area and made it to Hoover Dam. We didn't do the tour down into the turbines but we still managed to spend almost 90 minutes walking the dam, reading the plaques, and trying to take it all in. On Sunday afternoon, we drove in the opposite direction and went to see Red Rock Canyon. It had gotten cloudy by the time we got out to snap some pictures, but it was still an awesome place and definitely worth the forty-minute drive.
On Friday, February18, we were back on the Warner Brothers lot to see a taping of "Joey." We arrived at 1:30 and left at 10:30...for a 1/2 hour sitcom! Luckily, as the production dragged on, audience members left and Daryl and I were able to move to the first row for the last 90 minutes. The episode "Joey and the Neighbor" airs March 24.
And now, the vacation is over. March is all about settling into the work routine. If you know of any opportunities in the Glendale, Burbank or Pasadena areas, let me know.
The next update will go out the week of March 21st.
