Universal Studios and Hollywood

After the Rose Bowl Victory, part II of our trip began.  We planned to do the Hollywood thing.  Mike had never done any of that, and I did some of it when I was a kid and did make it out to Hollywood one night a few years ago for a Mary Kay Director's convention I was attending.  So we thought it seemed like a great, grown-up thing to do!

We woke up on a miserably cold, rainy Sunday and headed to Universal Studios. Not the weather I would have chosen, but what are you gonna do?  Everything to do in LA is outside so why let it stop us?  We decided to just dress appropriately and suck it up.

We did our best to put being cold and wet out of our minds and enjoy the park. First we went to the Waterworld show.  It was full of stunts, explosions, and all kinds of pyrotechnics.  The coolest part was when this plane launched over this fiery wall, while it too was on fire, before it landed in the water.

Here is how I looked most of the day...not really the look I was hoping for on my trip to LA but oh well.  It did the job, I suppose.

My favorite part of Universal Studios was the tram tour.  Here's one of the DeLorean's used in Back to the Future.

And the highlight of my entire trip...Wisteria Lane!  Yes, I am a huge Desperate Housewives fan!  It was really neat seeing the actual street.  I never pictured it being a cul-de-sac but it was.  Here is Gabby Soliz's house:

Set from War of the Worlds.  I hated that movie but the set was unbelievable.

It was the last day of Grinchmas at Universal Studios.  Really cute - the Whos were all over the park.  Apparently it rains in Whoville, too.

Mike and I decided to be volunteers in the Special Effects Show. Funny thing - I was a volunteer when I was 10 and I figured out it was also the Special Effects Show. Same type of stuff.  At the time ET was the hot movie and I got to get on the bicycle and then they projected onto a screen and it looked like I was flying on the bike.  They did something similar in our show.  For our volunteer parts, Mike got to be an astronaut.  Of course everyone thought it was too funny when they asked where we were from.  Houston, we have a problem!!  His suit was too tight!  I was the pretend controller.  What no one knew (at least not at first) was that he switched with a stunt man while no one was looking.  The stunt man was flying all over the place!

Here is the stunt man.  He had lots of roles during the show.  We actually watched the show backstage on a screen (where it was warm and dry!).  This dude kept yanking back the curtain in different outfits.  We cracked up when he appeared in THIS get-up!

Lookie here....pictures with the Grinch himself and Max the dog!  I think he looks exactly like Jim Carrey did in the movie.  I LOVE this picture!

And the Merry Grinchmas Tree Lighting! In spite of the nasty weather, this was absolutely beautiful!

The next day we took a tour of Beverly Hills, Hollywood, and the movie star homes.  In a closed bus I might add!  No more cold for me - I was DONE.

Simon Cowel's house. The guide said most people say his house looks like his personality.  Looks about right to me.

Michael Jackson's home where he died.  I'm a huge MJ fan so this was a big deal for me to see.

Here are the gates where all the footage was when he died.  They kept showing the stretcher and the ambulance parked here in the open gates. Weird.

We saw a lot of other homes, former and present, like Diana Ross, Christina Aguilara (who had clean up crews there from her New Year's party), Debra Messing, George Burns, to name a few.  Even the top of Tom Cruise's house and Orlando Bloom's driveway.  I've already forgotten whose houses some of my photos are of.

And what's Hollywood without the Hollywood sign?

Walk of Fame...

This was unplanned but totally fun. We went to this wax museum right next to the Chinese Theater and it had all these completely life-like statues of all these famous people.  I bet we took about 25 pictures in there.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Mike and Carrie Underwood...she could only be so lucky!

Mike gettin' down with Beyonce!

Mike and Conan...who's funnier....looking?

Remington Steele...I DO like him...they should have kept him as James Bond.

They call me Forrest...Forrest Gump....

Love this picture, and I love Jim Carrey!  His statue looked totally real.

Me and the King of Pop!  I'm mad at Mike though for not getting a full-body shot.  I was busting some serious moves on my feet!  He has a thing about cutting off pictures!!

And Jack and I having a little chat...

Then it was off to the airport!  It was a great trip!  Really fun - the original trip was going to be shorter but thanks to Mike's screwup on booking the return flight, we ended up having to stay some extra days and have just some play time in one of the coolest cities in the US.  It was a great way to start the year (except we got home 7 hours before all our kids had to start back to school - which really messed me up for the week, but we are caught up now - Whew)!