Spring Break Hollywood Style

Day 1: STL - LAX - The Tonight Show
Sandra and I woke up bright and early Monday morning to catch a ride from our chauffeur, Nere, Sandra's Mom. We were quite fortunate to have seamless travel all day, to the airport, flights through Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, and shuttle to Alamo Rental Cars.

Our Mission... get to the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno before the check-in time of 2:45. The stars aligned and our plane actually arrived early to LAX and we made it to NBC Studios by 2:15 or so (thanks to Nichole's non-freeway routes).

We had a blast at the show! Jay took questions from the audience beforehand and then interviewed guests, Jane Lynch and Kevin Hart. We weren't allowed to taken pics on the NBC Studio lot, so I guess a screen shot will have to work. (We're seated next to the blonde lady in the lower left.)

After the show, our stomachs took over and we pulled into Bob's Big Boy. Absolutely delicious! Probably a good thing we don't have these in Peoria.

Let the timezone game begin, it's not even 8:00 LA time and we're ready for bed. Next stop, our kickassly priced Courtyard Marriott in Beverly Hills. Thanks to Sandra and Vince's college buddy, Wolf, we were considered family for a couple days.

Oh, I can't forget to mention that we followed Suzy's (my TomTom) directions to the hotel. I happily giggled through LA traffic on the 405 (yes, the freeway everyone told me to avoid). I couldn't possibly drive around LA and not experience Carmageddon.

We did see the whole Hollywood sign, but since we never stopped to take it in, here's the best pic we have. WELCOME TO HOL!


Day 2: WB VIP Tour - The Ellen Show - Walk of Fame - Wax Museum
For fear of missing The Ellen Show on Tuesday, we decided to head to Burbank in the morning to go on a WB VIP Tour. One of the best decisions we made during the trip. It was awesome to see the ins and outs of the studio. Below is our VIP pic from in front of a green screen.

We couldn't take photos inside the set of Two and a Half Men or the WB Museum they had on the lot, but I have plenty from outside the sound stages, the prop house, Friends Central Perk set, outdoor sets used over and over again for shows and movies, and their collection of famous vehicles.

My favorite parts were hearing about the behind the scene shortcuts for filming, seeing items from Miss Congeniality in the WB Museum, and driving past Friends "Central Park" area & the Cuban Pete scene from The Mask in the tram. I regret not getting off the tram to reenact Phoebe running through Central Park, or playing the maracas like Cuban Pete.

After our 2.5 hour tour, we grabbed some lunch south of the border and then scouted out the line for Ellen. We got settled in and let the waiting begin. I'll be honest, I still don't know how to calm Sandra down... she was actually more jazzed and nervous than me.

Here are my answers to the paperwork we had to fill out:

We had a blast at the show... dancing, clapping, and cheering our asses off. I hope you got a chance to catch the show when it aired 4-11-12 with guest Khloe Kardashian. After she gave away a $200 Sears gift card to everyone in the audience, Sandra and I were seen crazily cheering in the crowd as they transitioned to a commercial break.

After the show, we got sucked in to the Ellen Shop... well, I got sucked into the Ellen shop, just as addicting as Cubs merchandise. Anyway, we also took some time to hang out in the photo booth.

Next on our to-do list, we headed into Los Angeles so we could hit the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

I'm going warp speed, but Picard and Kirk weren't.

Psycho.


Day 3: Randy's Donuts - LAX - Peoria, IL
Since we didn't have a free continental breakfast at our hotel (it's only downside). I recall seeing part of a donut when we left rental car place, so we put Randy's Donuts into the GPS. Suzy didn't lead us astray and we had a breakfast of champions.

We got the car returned and our day of traveling officially began. LAX to Cincinnati and then St. Louis where Nere's Shuttle Service picked us up. We watched a bit of Ellen to see our shiny happy faces and then hit the road to return to Peoria.

There are so many random thoughts and memories that are sure to continue to flood my brain and I'll try to share when those come up. I have plenty of additional pictures that I should post... we'll see what I can get done during the next week.

I wish I could print out the images I see in my head from this trip, AKA Giggle Fest 2012. As I said when we first got the tickets for Ellen... I wouldn't want to go to LA with anyone else! I'm glad I was selfish and got my way.