An American Road Trip: Part 2: Los Angeles

Day 4 - 6
Hotel: Angeleno, Los Angeles

As we left Vegas behind for our 300 mile journey through the desert we had to keep our eyes open just in case we found a specific diner my dad had asked us to call in to.  He had told us that there is a 50's style diner somewhere between Vegas and LA that sells route 66 memorabilia.  He was unsure of the name, location, and if it actually existed.  It did, and it was pretty much the only diner we saw, and it had the largest sign saying "Peggy Sue's 50's Diner"....we assumed that this would be the place.

The closer we got to the City of Angels, the heavier the traffic got, and so did the road rage.  Honking horns, busy freeways and drivers who refused to let you into their lane.  Driving was not fun.  As we arrived at the hotel, we noticed serious roadworks had begun on the adjoining bridge.  After an hour of very stressful driving we made it and I needed to relax.

On our first night we braved the freeway again and stressed our way to Hollywood boulevard. Bill Clinton was in town so the traffic near the Hollywood Bowl was carnage, and not good for this first timer.  Catching the Hollywood sign, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Star Walk, the Kodak Theatre and a brisk encounter with 'the hood'.





In the morning we decided to go to universal studios early to avoid another stressful journey and grab a drink in Starbucks on Universal City Walk.

We then ventured into Universal Studios, our first stop was the Star Tours bus ride which took us round various sets from the Universal Backlot, including Amity Island, Hill Valley and Skull Island. The King Kong 3d section was fantastic.  Clare loved the Simpson;s ride after panicking all the time in the queue that she would be scared, she absolutely loved it.



The Jurassic Park ride was Clare's limit and after going on this there was a collective decision for now more big rides.  Universal Studios is a brilliantly entertaining place, fun of thrills, laughs and memorabilia, great for movie buffs like myself or those engaged to them.  We decided to grab our evening meal here to avoid rush hour traffic (or any traffic) and ate at Tony Roma's which was one of Clare's favourite meals of the holiday.

We had bought a 2 day pass to Universal Studios so decided to avoid the traffic again and do the same thing, so off we tottered early morning back to city walk.  The tour took a different route, we saw more things that we had missed the day earlier and we grabbed an evening meal at Bubba Gump Shrimp, Go Forrest!

The morning we were due to leave LA we set off into thick fog, with the let down of the Hollywood sign, the star walk being filthy and the general traffic of LA, we were happy to leave, but didn't know what to expect in San Diego.