LA (Part 4): Playing Tourist

With my running and blogger meet-up fun over (read about it in Part 1, 2 & 3), I had just one thing left to do on my LA bucketlist: tourist time! :P

After lunch with my friend Dave and a Patriots win (WWOOO!!!), I headed to the Metro to make my way to the Walk of Fame and Chinese Theatre. Dave gave me step by step directions so I wouldn't get lost. Purple line to Red line to Hollywood-Highland.

I emerged on to exactly what I expected LA to look like --- tourists, sun, celebrity impersonators and Starbucks.

Yes, I had to drink Starbucks. There are no Dunkins in LA and I had been up since 5am so caffeine was necessity. Since I never go to Starbucks, I had to text my wife for instructions on how and what to order. ;)

After getting some caffeination, it was time to hit the Walk of Fame.

I have no idea who Taylor Holmes is, but had to take the pic based on the last name. Hmmm this might be him! Thanks IMDB.

It was so surreal to really be in LA. I just wish my wife was there to enjoy it with me. Sightseeing wasn't as much fun without her. Plus I was by myself so making comments to myself wasn't as exciting either.

The Chinese Theatre was cool ... and of course I had to go around and put my feet in celebrity footprints.

Pretty sweet to see up close and personal.

There was even Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.

I wanted to take a pic with Shrek, but alas there was no one around me to help. And I wasn't about to pay a celebrity impersonator to snap one. :P

I wasn't really sure what was around the area to check out (I am a bad tourist)! So I just wandered up and down Hollywood Boulevard checking out the stars, the shops and the people.

I was also soaking up as much sun as possible since I knew it was cold and overcast back in Boston.

As I was walking back towards the Metro, a sign caught my attention on my right side.

There it was in the distance - THE Hollywood sign.

Now I didn't have time go go climb up and take a picture with it so catching it from a distance would have to do this trip.

By this time, it was approaching 3pm and I was getting beat. Thankfully my teammate Ray was able to pick me up a couple Metro stops down and give me a lift back to his place.

At that point, it was nap time. I was getting drained. Plus this whole time I was sick so my body was ready for some RnR. He had a family event to go to so I chilled until I had dinner with my girl May (from ReducedFatGirl.com) at Blue Dog Beer Tavern. It was great to have some one-on-one time to catch up (since this weekend was the first time we got to meet up in real life) and share some beer. Mmmm local craft beer...

After Mae dropped me back at Ray's house, it was time to hit the couch. I was pooped and would be spending the next day traveling back to Boston. A long cross-country adventure.

I flew from Burbank to San Francisco and San Francisco to Boston. I was taking off from Burbank at 1:20pm and arriving in Boston at 1:00am (the next day). Oy! Thankfully we were able to make up some time and I landed at 12:20am-ish.

But the flight from SF to Boston was nearly empty so I moved myself around until I was able to get a complete row to myself. Hello legroom!!

I then paid the $8 to United to get the unlimited TV access. TOTALLY worth it for a 5+ hour flight, right? I watched The Heat, Hangover 3, Monsters University, Diners, DriveIns and Dives and so much more. But my favorite? The first episode of my cousin's show of course - The Pete Holmes Show on TBS (weeknights at Midnight ET).

How cool is it to see someone you know/related to on TV?

***

There is so much more of LA I wish I could've seen - like hello a beach!! - but for the limited time I was there, it was amazing. I was able to see some amazing sights, soak up some sun, enjoy some local craft beer, run some miles and meet some of the most awesome people on the planet.

What more could one ask for in a less than 65 hour trip to the opposite coast? ;)