It was going to take us two solid days of driving to get there, so we decided to make it more interesting by diverting onto the old Route 66 for a while. Despite its historic pop culture significance, there's not a whole lot going on along there any more, but we stopped for a while at Williams, Arizona, the last Route 66 town to be bypassed by the new Interstate 40 when it was built in the early 80s.
It's a haven of the nostalgia and spirit of Route 66's heyday, with classic diners, quirky hotels and shops and classic cars lining the streets.
The next day we reached the outskirts of LA with our usual impeccable timing. The one thing I always said I did not want to do was drive the RV through LA in rush hour, especially anywhere near the airport. Well, good news! It was about 5:30PM and the only half-decent RV park we could find was right across town, just over the road from LAX. Awesome!
LA seems to be the only city in the USA where driving tests are optional. I think they must use it for population control or something. After about the tenth time someone cut me off, passed me on the wrong side or tried to merge with the freeway / motorway in front of me at 20mph, I started realising why people think guns are a good idea in this country.
Still, we made it in one piece. I was pretty confident I hadn't lost the back end of the coach at any point as I could still hear the clink of the wine bottle hitting my Mum's glass every so often! And despite our proximity to the airport, there wasn't much plane noise so we all got a decent night's sleep.
We only had one full day in LA before heading down to San Diego for the final part of my parents' trip, so we had a lot of ground to cover. We hired a car and headed straight for Hollywood. It was only a Dodge Avenger or something (bog-standard mid-size type affair) but, considering I'd been driving a glorified school bus for the last eight months, it felt like the Batmobile to me. It didn't take me long to set about evening the score by cutting people off, undertaking and generally driving like a nob. Hypocritical? Maybe. Satisfying? Definitely. Deal with it!
We parked up somewhere along Hollywood Boulevard and began star-spotting on the walk of fame. If you've never been to Hollywood, trust me: the image you probably have in your head is much better than the real deal. It's a dump. Nearby Beverley Hills, Bel Air and the Hollywood Hills are incredible but down here in reality, not so much. I'm convinced they put the walk of fame there to make sure you keep your eyes on the floor rather than looking at your surroundings.
The best thing about this place is knowing that they won't give a star to Kim Kardashian, but this legend's got one:
Sharon and I ate at a pizzeria in Hollywood once and she said she'd spotted cockroaches on the way back from the bathroom. Unfortunately I was halfway through my pizza by then; I knew black olives weren't supposed to have legs though!
This time we dragged my Mum and Dad to In N Out Burger, figuring at least we'd probably all die of heart attacks instead of e-coli poisoning. After devouring 12 burgers between us, I pointed the car in the direction of the Hollywood Hills and let my belly do the steering.
A jaunt around this end of town is a must for any delusional soul planning what to do with their millions when they eventually become a rock god, superstar DJ or third-rate reality TV star. Plenty of architectural eye-candy around here.
I'm not sure who lives at this one but I'm guessing someone famous; there was a 10ft stone mask on the wall and a zoo of metal animals on the front porch. Hardly suggests an introverted personality!
Great views of the city from this lookout too:
Not a famous person in sight though. That's the second time Scarlett Johansson has stood me up now. Thought I might at least get a glimpse of Leonardo DiCaprio giving himself a pep-talk in front of his trophy cabinet ready for the Oscars.
We drove on past Beverley Hills and onto Santa Monica Boulevard, heading for the beach.
Santa Monica beach is one of the nicer ones in the LA area. It's at least a couple of miles long so plenty of space to stretch your legs and put a short but significant distance between you and city life.
We strolled along it for a while towards the historic pier and then headed inland for some shopping.
The sun was retreating before long so we jumped back in the car and headed for the Griffith Observatory. Looking south from Griffith Park into the Los Angeles basin, this is one of the best places to get one of those iconic hillside views of the metropolis below. You can see the entire city and all the way to the ocean, plus of course the Hollywood sign on the opposite hill.
Incredible at night; the photos don't really do it justice. Inside the observatory there's also a planetarium and tons of interesting, interactive exhibits for kids and adults. And it's free!
Our stomachs were calling again by this point so we fled the hills and headed for the nearest restaurant we could find where large, exoskeletoned insects were not on the menu.
Having just about scratched the surface of LA, we got our heads down after a few medicinal beers and got ready to depart for San Diego. Sharon and I would return to LA a week or so later though, so I will cover that in a separate post.
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