Vacation.Twenty.Fifteen.(part 1) -- LA

Oh, how I love summertime! This year my summer break flew by, especially considering that we were gone for three weeks of it. Earlier in the summer, we took a trip up to east coast to add a few more rollercoasters to our list and to revisit the place we stayed on our honeymoon. Then, we spent the last two weeks exploring LA, California and The Big Island of Hawaii. We had a blast! 

first stop -- LA

We flew out July 4 to head to LA. I must admit that this southern Alabama girl was in for a bit of a shock. My heart crumbled as we drove around exploring Los Angeles -- as we passed a "Self Realization Fellowship - church of all religions" sign, a "Church of Scientology", an entire portion of the city dedicated to gay pride (including an "out of the closet" thrift store), and countless ads for strip joints and hiring topless maids. Although we were on vacation, the reality of our broken world was like a kick in the chest and one that is hard to forget regardless of the circumstances.

• Nonetheless, we did have some fun exploring Rodeo Drive and its super expensive stores, the nice homes in Beverly Hills, the Hollywood Sign, the Star Walk (which is not as impressive as I once thought), and more!

The next stop (and MY FAVORITE PART OF LA) was the trip to Warner Brothers Studio. We had a small tour group and a wonderful tour guide named Eric, who made sure to show us backlots, sets, and sound stages for some of our favorite shows and movies, including PRETTY LITTLE LIARS (I was obsessed), Big Bang Theory, Friends, Fuller House (and Full House), the movie Annie, Growing Pains, ER, the movie The Grimlins, and more! Pictures are below.



*** These are only pics from the backlots; We were not allowed to take pics of sets/sound stages. I can see why as I saw a set for a future episode of PLL - no spoilers, though! :)

*** NEAT FACT: None of these buildings are "real". They are made from cardboard, styrofoam, and other materials - not the wood, stone, or brick that it appears to be.

Pretty Little Liars Pics

 * Barn where Emily is pulled out/ Shady Oaks hotel where A's lair was

 * Dilaurentis' House

 * Hannah Marin's House

* Rosewood Florist / "Davis Bros" is the site of creepy doll place in PLL
They just replace the logo on the window. :)

 * Emily Field's House (this was Monica and Ross' house in Friends)

 * Rosewood High School (remember, these are all fake buildings -- crazy!)

 * Rosewood PD and Fire Dept. (these "buildings" are on back of Rosewood HS)
As the tour guide kept saying - "Believe nothing you see on TV" haha

 

* Hollis College Entrance

 * Ezra Fitz's apartment complex/ Museum that Ezra and Aria go to

 * Radleigh Insane Asylum

 others...

 

 * Theatre in Friends (white one- where Joey's big premiere is shown) and in
Big Bang Theory (tan/black one - where the crew goes to see Raiders of the Lost Art)

 

*Orphanage in Annie (the one with Carol Burnett)

 

* Seaver's House in show Growing Pains

* Patchett storefront is actually changed in Big Bang  Theory to be the front of the apartment complex that Penny, Sheldon, and Leonard live in. You see the front in episode where Sheldon has hotdog and dog is chasing him. / Stage Set of BBT

* Hospital in ER/ House for "new" show of Fuller House

 * Gizmo brought down these steps in movie Grimlins

 * Batman memorabilia and the building of a set design for a show

• Finally, we went to a couple theme parks - of course! We had to add just a few more rides our list, so we made it to Knott's Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain. Some of my favorites from Six Flags Magic Mountain were: Twisted Colossus (a woodie that has been renovated to have a steel track; it's long, has a good bit of air time, and you also race another car) and The Green Lantern (a different kind of coaster that I'm pretty sure gave me whiplash, but it was fun!). I also braved a drop tower that was 415 ft tall called the Lex Luthor: Drop of Doom. This was huge for me, as I HATE drop towers. I can do any coaster, but I do not like the free fall. I was doing my nervous laugh so hard on this ride that I actually started crying - haha.

Lex Luthor:  Drop of Doom (found on Google images)

Overall, we had a great time in LA! Then, we headed out for 9 days in the Big Island of Hawaii!!

Check out that post here: http://lanzaletters.blogspot.com/2015/07/vacation-twenty-fifteen-part-2-hawaii.html

Until next time...