L.A. Spring Break

Jonathan and I were chaperons for his school's Dance Team trip.  I think there were 33 people on the trip total and 19 were students...so there was A LOT of supervision so it was a super easy trip.  Originally I was paying most of my way and would not be a chaperon but then one girl dropped out, it was non refundable, and I got bumped into her spot.  So, the trip was 100% free, even meals, but I had to stay on their exact schedule.  You win some, you lose some.  

Either way, we made the best of it, both rocking some MAJOR allergy issues, and ended up having a really great time.

It was a quick trip.  We left on Saturday morning, early and came home Monday, very late.  Also, these are all iphone pics (terrible) or auto DSLR non edited pics (blown out).

Saturday:

The alarm went off at 5:15 and we landed in LA before lunch.

We went to Paramount studios which was really cool.  It was something I never would have picked to do because I'm not into celebrities but we had a lot of fun and had a great tour guide.  It's really neat to see where so many films and tv shows were shot.

This is an outdoor eating area for guest but they use it apparently as a "college campus" on Community.

Some of the stages and celebrity trailers with a view of the Hollywood sign.  Pretty cool.

On the left is Lucille Ball's "dressing area" I guess you could call it.  She also put a playground/park in across the sidewalk for her kids and created one of the first day cares for working moms just across from this area as well.  It's still open :)  On the right is a picture of "New York" and we also visited "Chicago" as well.

I LOVE the movie Forrest Gump.  My favorite of all time.  They said they call Tom Hanks "Tom Pranks" because he likes to pull pranks on visitors.  Once he sat on this bench dressed up like Forrest Gump and handed out chocolates.  They said it took people a while to realize it was actually the real Tom Hanks.

After this we killed an hour and a half on the tour bus while the kids did a dance clinic.

We ended the night with Maggiano's and some shopping at the Farmer's Market.

Sunday:

We spent the entire day at Six Flags.  Which, I don't ride rides AT ALL so this was a bit of a waste for me.

That's Jonathan and a bunch of students up side down :/

Monday:

We took a tour of the city (Rodeo drive, Sunset Blvd, Beverly Hills...), went to Santa Monica Pier and the beach, the walk of fame, Venice Beach...busy busy!

 Clearly, I'm into older men ;)

We totally fell in love with southern cali and will be back for sure.  Jonathan had been but I never had so we really want to go back and spend some more time since we already have most of the "touristy" stuff out of the way...and free of charge ;)