Hi all! Here is day 3. I hope there isn't a power outage while I am typing, there is a nasty storm just to the west of where I live right now. We'll give it a shot though.
Day 3 - June 18, 2003
We got to sleep in late today as we were hoping to miss at least some of the LA traffic if that was possible. We started the day with the hotel continental breakfast, Orange juice and 2 pastries. We supplimented it with cereal that we brought from home to have quite a nice breakfast while watching the news. If anyone watches the news while on vacation in LA, I loved the traffic clip art they put on the map. For thouse who don't watch the local news that won't make much sense.
The first place we went was Mountian View Cemetery in Pasadena to find 2 of our original battery members. For those who didn't catch my pre trip explaining this here is the quick version. One of the projects of our Civil War Reenacting Artillery Battery is to find the resting places of all 300 some original members. So far we have found about 150ish and a bunch ended up in LA. We also replace the headstones if we locate a veteran of ours that doesn't have a stone. Anyway, Mountian View Cemetery gave us great maps, 3 for locating each grave, it was a breeze and both had stones.
We then headed over to Forestlawn in Glendale to find 1 battery member and Walt Disney's Grave. We found our vet but they wouldn't give us the location of Walt and I forgot which court he was in. There was a duplicate of the monument that sits over his grave by the main gate. It is the Little Mermaid that Roy gave him that was a copy of the one in Denmark. If anyone wants a link to a picture of it let me know. (It is the website that told me where he was that I forgot to print and bring along) We would have just drove around and looked like the cemetery staff suggested but there were probably several THOUSAND graves in there. It was huge.
Instead we kept on our trail and headed to Hollywood to find Mickey Mouse's Star on the Hollywood walk of fame. While finding his we also took pictures of Walt Disney's Star, Vivian Leigh (Scarlett O'Hara) Jim Hanson, and Kermit the Frog. We finally found Mickey's after about a mile infront of the Chinese Theater where we also took pictures of the hand casts of the Star Trek Crew (Original Series) and Donald Duck. There was some big Movie Star thing happening so it was really crowded and we decided to leave before it got really nuts. Our parking meter was running out too.
While looking for the famous Hollywood sign on the hill we headed to Los Angeles National Military Cemetery. We were looking for 2 of our vets and found one both no problem. We did not however see the hollywood sign. This is where we ate lunch, our leftovers from PCH Grille.
Our next stop was our last cemetery and our only bummer. We went to Inglewood Cemetery for 1 guy and it turned out to be the wrong person. The person buried there would have only been 10 at the time of the civil war.
While contemplating what happened to our last vet we headed off to Ports O' Call. I guess according to Mom and Dad it was a happening place 23 years ago but now there isn't a whole lot there. There was some nice shops (and some really strange ones too). We went to go on a LA/San Pedro Harbor Cruise. While we didn't find the company we orignially found we did find another offering the same cruise, Fiesta Cruises.
It was a nice cruise but could have used better narration, it wasn't really all that informative but it was better than no narritave at all. We saw the Terminal Island Prison, Angels Gate Lighthouse, a number of major companies like Evergreen Docks and the LA Fire Boats. We also got to see some navy and Coast guard ships in port. Being out on the water did help my allergies and my head was getting better while may hands were gettin worse, neiter were very good at this point but I was still having a great time!
After the harbor tour we drove just a short ways to the Point Fermin Lighthouse after we remembered it was there with the help of the GPS unit which marks from Bouys to Lighthouses. There was some kind of film shoot happening. My guess was a comercial but it could have been something else. WE got our pictures of the lighthouse and could even get some neat ones of Angels Gate in the distance.
About a block from there is the Korean Friendship Bell which was kind of neat to see. It was presented to the American People from the People of South Korean following the Korean War. Mom just finished an exhibit for the 150th anniversary at her museum where she is program director so she thought it was really cool too.
From there we drove up the coast seeing where the New portugese land slide happened and up to the Point Vincente Lighthouse which is supposedly haunted. We were there when it was cloudy enough to see the light as it is still an active light. We also got to see the "Ghost" If you look at the right time the cross-hatching in the windows of the lens causes a strange person like image to appear. As you move aroun to differnt vantage points the ghost walks further around the lens. It was really neat. I'm not sure if I believe in ghost for real or not but I do love the stories and even have one of my own from a Civil War National Reenactment but that is off the subject.
Following Point Vincente I ran out of kleenex for the first time and had to confiscate Dad's, he wasn't using them anyway. He didn't mind either. We drove the Pacific Coast Highway back into LA stopping at King Harbor Seafood for dinner, an asian seafood resturant. I guess I must have looked pretty miserable as the waitress kept giving me more green tea. At first I though she was just being helpful until I realised she wasn't pouring mom or dad any, just the miserable looking me. The food was great as was the service. We then went back to the hotel at about 9:45pm and I confiscated some of Dad's Benadryl as I had run out of that too.
Like I said in the previous day this is what Stange Minnesotans decide to do with a free day in Los Angeles. We out over 150 mile on our car and never left the "Los Angeles Vicinity" Upon returning to our hotel thought we did manage to capture the very last real parking place. By this time though the parking disaster was getting much better and there wern't too many parked illegally anymore at night.
Coming soon: Our very first glimpse at California Adventure! Did I survive without more kleenex? what did we think of Disney's newest park? Tune in again (If my computer doesn't blow up in this storm) to find out!
Minnesota
Pre Trip Report
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 3 - June 18, 2003
We got to sleep in late today as we were hoping to miss at least some of the LA traffic if that was possible. We started the day with the hotel continental breakfast, Orange juice and 2 pastries. We supplimented it with cereal that we brought from home to have quite a nice breakfast while watching the news. If anyone watches the news while on vacation in LA, I loved the traffic clip art they put on the map. For thouse who don't watch the local news that won't make much sense.
The first place we went was Mountian View Cemetery in Pasadena to find 2 of our original battery members. For those who didn't catch my pre trip explaining this here is the quick version. One of the projects of our Civil War Reenacting Artillery Battery is to find the resting places of all 300 some original members. So far we have found about 150ish and a bunch ended up in LA. We also replace the headstones if we locate a veteran of ours that doesn't have a stone. Anyway, Mountian View Cemetery gave us great maps, 3 for locating each grave, it was a breeze and both had stones.
We then headed over to Forestlawn in Glendale to find 1 battery member and Walt Disney's Grave. We found our vet but they wouldn't give us the location of Walt and I forgot which court he was in. There was a duplicate of the monument that sits over his grave by the main gate. It is the Little Mermaid that Roy gave him that was a copy of the one in Denmark. If anyone wants a link to a picture of it let me know. (It is the website that told me where he was that I forgot to print and bring along) We would have just drove around and looked like the cemetery staff suggested but there were probably several THOUSAND graves in there. It was huge.
Instead we kept on our trail and headed to Hollywood to find Mickey Mouse's Star on the Hollywood walk of fame. While finding his we also took pictures of Walt Disney's Star, Vivian Leigh (Scarlett O'Hara) Jim Hanson, and Kermit the Frog. We finally found Mickey's after about a mile infront of the Chinese Theater where we also took pictures of the hand casts of the Star Trek Crew (Original Series) and Donald Duck. There was some big Movie Star thing happening so it was really crowded and we decided to leave before it got really nuts. Our parking meter was running out too.
While looking for the famous Hollywood sign on the hill we headed to Los Angeles National Military Cemetery. We were looking for 2 of our vets and found one both no problem. We did not however see the hollywood sign. This is where we ate lunch, our leftovers from PCH Grille.
Our next stop was our last cemetery and our only bummer. We went to Inglewood Cemetery for 1 guy and it turned out to be the wrong person. The person buried there would have only been 10 at the time of the civil war.
While contemplating what happened to our last vet we headed off to Ports O' Call. I guess according to Mom and Dad it was a happening place 23 years ago but now there isn't a whole lot there. There was some nice shops (and some really strange ones too). We went to go on a LA/San Pedro Harbor Cruise. While we didn't find the company we orignially found we did find another offering the same cruise, Fiesta Cruises.
It was a nice cruise but could have used better narration, it wasn't really all that informative but it was better than no narritave at all. We saw the Terminal Island Prison, Angels Gate Lighthouse, a number of major companies like Evergreen Docks and the LA Fire Boats. We also got to see some navy and Coast guard ships in port. Being out on the water did help my allergies and my head was getting better while may hands were gettin worse, neiter were very good at this point but I was still having a great time!
After the harbor tour we drove just a short ways to the Point Fermin Lighthouse after we remembered it was there with the help of the GPS unit which marks from Bouys to Lighthouses. There was some kind of film shoot happening. My guess was a comercial but it could have been something else. WE got our pictures of the lighthouse and could even get some neat ones of Angels Gate in the distance.
About a block from there is the Korean Friendship Bell which was kind of neat to see. It was presented to the American People from the People of South Korean following the Korean War. Mom just finished an exhibit for the 150th anniversary at her museum where she is program director so she thought it was really cool too.
From there we drove up the coast seeing where the New portugese land slide happened and up to the Point Vincente Lighthouse which is supposedly haunted. We were there when it was cloudy enough to see the light as it is still an active light. We also got to see the "Ghost" If you look at the right time the cross-hatching in the windows of the lens causes a strange person like image to appear. As you move aroun to differnt vantage points the ghost walks further around the lens. It was really neat. I'm not sure if I believe in ghost for real or not but I do love the stories and even have one of my own from a Civil War National Reenactment but that is off the subject.
Following Point Vincente I ran out of kleenex for the first time and had to confiscate Dad's, he wasn't using them anyway. He didn't mind either. We drove the Pacific Coast Highway back into LA stopping at King Harbor Seafood for dinner, an asian seafood resturant. I guess I must have looked pretty miserable as the waitress kept giving me more green tea. At first I though she was just being helpful until I realised she wasn't pouring mom or dad any, just the miserable looking me. The food was great as was the service. We then went back to the hotel at about 9:45pm and I confiscated some of Dad's Benadryl as I had run out of that too.
Like I said in the previous day this is what Stange Minnesotans decide to do with a free day in Los Angeles. We out over 150 mile on our car and never left the "Los Angeles Vicinity" Upon returning to our hotel thought we did manage to capture the very last real parking place. By this time though the parking disaster was getting much better and there wern't too many parked illegally anymore at night.
Coming soon: Our very first glimpse at California Adventure! Did I survive without more kleenex? what did we think of Disney's newest park? Tune in again (If my computer doesn't blow up in this storm) to find out!
Minnesota
Pre Trip Report
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
