SoCal July 2019, hopefully live

[liz-paul]

Day 1.

After our slow start OH was feeling much better after a couple of hours sleep while myself and the boys had breakfast and a walk.

After a slight hiccup with the rental car (I had to pick it up and was lucky to have my driving license with me!) we set off for santa monica. Arrived about 11:30 and parked in a multi story on 3rd street promenade as advised by my brother. Prices for car park

This was only a 10 min walk from the pier and attached to a nice shopping centre. The first thing we saw on leaving the car park was a cheesecake factory! We've never been to one and we were ready for lunch so we went in! Gluten Free options were a bit limited)(from memory there were several salads, burgers and some pasta dishes. I'm not sure if the burgers came with a gf bun or 'naked'). I had 4 cheese pasta which was nice. OH and ds1 had burgers, ds2 had pizza. All enjoyed our food 😋 we shared a gf coffee and cream cheesecake and a non gf peanut butter, caramel cheesecake

these were delicious and even though we shared we couldn't finish them! The other gf option was a godiva chocolate cheesecake.

We then walked down to the seafront and along to the pier. Had a ice wander around the pier but didn't go on any rides or do much. Ds2 wanted to go in the arcade but we escaped! We walked along the beach (beside the beach really) for a little bit and ds2 and OH played about on some gym equipment type stuff while ds1 and I pretended not to know them!

Then we slowly headed back to the car. Santa monica seems a nice place, we would have liked bit longer there and we might go back. There is a huge amount of homelessness which is a bit sad.

Got to our hotel in glendale, checked in and then my brother picked us up and we went to a thai restaurant in burbank which was fab! It was called gindi. Burbank looked a lovely area and I'm a bit disappointed we didnt find a hotel to suit us there.

Traffic today has been heavy but not hellish. Although lots of drivers seem a bit cavalier in their attitudes...

All in all we didn't get much done today but it has been very pleasant! Tomorrow we're doing the Hollywood sign, walk of fame and not sure what else...

[cornishfrogboy]

Nice start! No drugs bust taking place behind the Route 66 sign on this occasion, though!

I thought that perhaps they are actors who do one every hour or so in order to entertain the tourists.

Looking forward to the next installment.

[liz-paul]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

Nice start! No drugs bust taking place behind the Route 66 sign on this occasion, though!

I thought that perhaps they are actors who do one every hour or so in order to entertain the tourists.

Looking forward to the next installment.

See more...

Haha I was actually talking about the drugs bust in your trippie as we approached the pier! Which 10 year old son only heard half off so I had to repeat. Then explain. Then repeat to 13 year old son who had started listening! And the have an entire conversation with 10 year old about how route 66 is in fact a real road not just a made up place from Cars 😂🙄

[liz-paul]

Day 2. Hiking, Hollywood and hurting.

My brother picked us up at 9am and we set off for our hike up to the Hollywood sign. As far as I know we parked at Bronson Canyon, if this turns out to be incorrect I will let you know. Parking was free and we found a spot easily.

Reassuring!

We set off about 9:30 and reached the viewing area around 10:45.

You get a fab view from here and the hike was good. Regarding the hike I would say you need you need decent shoes (i was wearing sketchers go walks which were OK, but more on that later!), plenty of water and sunscreen (there is virtually no shade) and be prepared to take at least a couple of hours. We saw a boy at the top who seemed quite unwell and the was a med evac going further up the mountain too. We took 700ml bottles of water and drank the lot.

You can see right over LA from up here

As you can see its quite smoggy, but apparently it rained a week or so ago and is a bit clearer than sometimes.

We walked back down which took around 40 mins I think. Our total time for up, photos and down was around 2 hours. Everyone else in our group is pretty fit and I'm kind of fit and was definitely slower than the rest. We were almost down and I went over on my ankle. A few moments of worry as searing pain shot through my ankle and then it eased off and I carried on with a slight limp (at this point I wish I had packed trainers).

Next up lunch! We went back to burbank and had Mexican food in a little place called Los amigos. Honestly it didnt look like much but the food was amazing! My brother and his partner eat there a lot. I had fish tacos which came with rice, guacamole and refried beans. Full disclaimer: I didn't ask if this was gluten Free, I just guessed it was as it came with corn tortillas not flour. I'm not sure why but I couldn't face asking and decided to take a risk. This isn't like me at all but as I am only gluten intolerant not coeliac I do take the odd guess on holidays to make life easier. All the food here was good and I thought it was pretty cheap (my fish tacos were around $12, the burrito was about $10, some dishes were more).

After lunch my foot was a bit more sore but nothing I couldn't handle so we went to the Hollywood walk of fame. Parked in a garage behind the Chinese theatre (should have been $3 with validation from a store in the centre attached to the parking but I saw the machine charge my brother $6 for some reason). We walked along the stars a bit, saw the handprints outside the Chinese theatre (couldn't find keanu reeves 😭 ) and had a bit of a mooch.

My take on the area: we were only there about 30 mins which is enough for a 'been there done that' visit. However, I could have easily spent a couple of hours there, maybe more if I had been alone/with people more interested in looking around. Yes it's busy, tacky and touristy, but no more than various bits of London, I didn't find it seedy or scary. In short, I would actually quite like to go back if we return to Los Angeles.

We got a Ben and Jerry's

and went back to the car. My foot was getting pretty sore.

Back to the hotel for a rest up, swim and maybe a bit of shopping (there are 2 malls close to our hotel, the Galleria and Americana), before heading back to burbank for dinner. Except when we got out of the car I could hardly walk. I limped up the room and proceeded to RICE my foot. Oh and ds2 went down the pool, ds1 glued himself to phone. OH and ds2 returned almost immediately from pool. Still not sure why but ds2 looked at the pool and changed his mind. They headed off to the Galleria instead and enjoyed a browse and bought some lego.

During this time my foot got increasingly painful and I couldnt put any weight on it. I told myself I didn't need to see a Dr and I was probably fine. Eventually I admitted to myself that I didn't want to see a Dr because I was scared to find out something was badly wrong and I'd screwed up the whole trip 😢 I admitted that I would advise anyone else in the same situation to seek medical advice. So with OH and ds2 back from the shops we called our insurance company who told us what to do and I hopped, yes literally hopped down to the car. In case you don't know, hopping is actually exhausting! Ds2 was gutted to be missing out on the amazing pizza we were meant to have for dinner (he was on the verge of tears! Had to remind ourselves he was tired, hungry and only 10!). We went to the adventist emergency care centre and OH checked me in and dealt with the insurance stuff. As an aside, please do get insurance and please make sure you have your documents easily accessible and use of a mobile phone. Apart from anything else, the receptionist had to speak to our insurance company on the phone but her phone couldnt make international calls so she has to use my husbands phone.

Long story short I was xrayed and examined and have sprained my foot/ankle. I have to keep weight off it for approx 4 days and then add gradual weight as comfortable. They gave me crutches and wrapped it in a compression bandage. I was so relieved it wasn't more serious 😅 the medical centre staff were all lovely, it only took about 2/2.5 hours door to door and our insurance company were easy to deal with.

The impact for our holiday is that we have switched universal studios from today (Wednesday) to Friday and I may have to hire a wheelchair 😲 not sure how this will impact getting around the parks, accessing rides etc which sucks as universal is supposed a massive highlight for us 😕 I might also have to sit on a sun lounger at the water park on Saturday and I'm not sure what we will do today. We will probably have to take it a bit easy and we will almost certainly have to drop something from our LA itinerary.

Well done if you stuck with this for the entirety, I feel like I wrote and essay! Onwards and upwards 😊

[cornishfrogboy]

A great update and I am really sorry to hear about your ankle. Let’s hope that it heals really soon!

[KayLouise]

Oh no! Hope your ankle feels better soon. Love your Hollywood sign photo.

[liz-paul]

Day 3. Short and sweet!

Given my lack of mobility we got off to a slow start. We were enjoying a leisurely breakfast in the hotel when a alarms and massive fans started going off! We all looked at each other and after a couple of minutes we got the confirmation to get out! So we trudged across the street (I really discovered how slow I am on crutches at this point!). As we sat across the street wondering if the hotel was on fire I really regretted leaving my purse and passports in the room! Luckily the fire brigade arrived quickly and we soon the all clear to go back in. We still don't know what happened...

We went to the camerillo outlets today. It took about an hour to get there and there are closer outlets to glendale but these were recommended by my brother so we went. And boy was I impressed! We hired a complimentary wheelchair which was a godsend for me. I'm in absolute agony across my arms, shoulders, stomach, legs etc from using the crutches as it is (currently writing this on day 4 before I get out of bed). If you want a wheelchair here, go early, there were only 2!

The outlets are huge. Like totally enormous. So big you really need to drive between sections! I am a bit gutted that I couldn't get a good look round as I'm sure I would have bought loads. All the discounts seemed great too. We spent 5 hours here but only really managed a few shops as ds2 was looking for converse for a long time (he didn't find any 😕 ) and I took so long to do anything! However, I bought 2 Michael kors bags for 70% off (will post photos and accurate prices tonight when I have time), a Ted Baker bag and we got a wallet and belt for OH and a bracelet for me in fossil.

Honestly if you're in the area and you like shopping it is 100% the place to go. It put the florid outlets to shame!

We ate in the food court and it was fine. I actually got an amazing gf burger from burgerim with the nicest gf burger bun I've ever had.

Took about an hour 40 mins to get back. At which point we rested up, OH went back to the medical center to collect my paperwork for the insurance company and then we headed over to burbank for dinner with my brother. We went to an Italian called Ma's kitchen which was in a small shopping precint with a supermarket and a few other Things. It was really really good. I had chicken alfredo with gf pasta, the boys and my brother all got pizzas (small was big enough!) and OH had the special which was lobster ravioli. Not sure how much it was as my brother paid (again 🙈 ) but I think the pizzas were about $15 and my pasta was about $18.

Then back to the hotel for an early night.

A nice day but without my sprained ankle we could have easily squeezed in another activity today and we probably now won't make it to the California science center at all. My body is exhausted and sore from using the crutches. However, we're having a great holiday anyway and we have the Warner bros tour this morning. Although I think I might need a wheelchair again 🙄

[liz-paul]

Yesterday's shopping:
Ted Baker bag $52.55 Inc tax down from $249 plus tax. The light in our hotel room is terrible, the bag is white with silver glitter. It's not an amazing bag but will be great fro throwing all my stuff in for work.

Michael Kors bag. This is a bright postbox red. Cost $98.40 plus tax down from $328 plus tax.

This one is a coral shoulder bag. $74.40 plus tax down from $248 plus tax.

Bracelet from fossil. $15 plus tax down from $38 + tax.

Also Black leather belt $20 from $54 and a black leather wallet $19 from $40 that I didn't bother to photograph.

[liz-paul]

Day 4. Warner bros.

We did the Warner bros tour today and all really enjoyed it. We had a 9.30 tour and arrived at the car park about 8.30 (there was plenty of parking both when we arrived and when we left) so we had a while hanging around before the tour. I got an iced coffee in the starbucks while we waited. The lobby area is small, busy and doesnt have much seating. I was using my crutches today but putting partial weight on my sprained ankle and to be honest I couldn't have managed the tour any other way. I didn't ask about a wheelchair and I'm not sure how the tour would have worked if I had used one. And I definitely didn't have the strength to keep the weight off my foot all day. The tour was really interesting and we all enjoyed it, esp my husband who is not that much of a TV or movie fan. We were there until about 1.30 having a good look around. We bought 2 souvenir photos for $40 plus tax. We had a coffee in Central perk ☕😀 and took various photos. The big bang theory sets had been added a week ago!

After we left we went to the glendale Galleria mall for lunch in the food Court. Boys and OH had pizza/spaghetti and I had 5 guys. It was all OK and filled a hole but seemed kinda pricey... My meal was over $18 for a burger, fried and diet Coke!

The mall is big with a good range of shops if you're in the area.

Back to the hotel for a bit of RICE therapy for my ankle, YouTube for ds1 and the gym and pool for ds2 and OH. We're all now getting ready to head over to my brothers for dinner/4tg July celebrations.

Sorry for the lack of pics, I didn't realise how knackered I am until I started typing. I might add some in tomorrow.

[Edie ray]

I am loving your report so far, such a shame you have hurt your foot, hope it gets better soon

We did the Warner Bros tour when we went, it was one of our favourite days, I really like all your bags, great prices