Reagan Library

We drove up to the beautiful Simi Valley today and went to the Reagan Library. Very nice place...I highly recommend it for all Americans even democrats! ha!

They have AIR FORCE ONE! You get to go on it and everything. They used this plane until Bush No. 2.

They also have a replica of the Oval Office. That desk is the one John John Kennedy played under in that famous pic when Kennedy was President.

Real piece of the Berlin wall. I thought this was very cool.

Reagan's burial site. Such a beautiful place and very peaceful.

Lawry's THE prime rib

After a day of recovering from the game, Friday we went to a place in Beverly Hills called Lawry's Prime Rib. It is where the teams come and eat before the Rose Bowl.

They had the game balls displayed from when the teams were at the restaurant.

Matt ordered the same cut of meat that the players eat called "The Beef Bowl". Of course. He almost finished it too.

I made it through the day. That's all you can ask.

Matt had a great day. I would even say it was a dream come true for him. I told Hollie he did like 3 herkeys before we left the house. We spent like $100 in programs alone. Yikes.

Lee Corso picked Texas to win. How's that workin out for you Lee?

Despite how it looks in this pic, our seats were really good.

It was neat to be in the Rose Bowl.

And the award for worst-dressed goes to.....

Alright people. Just because its a big game, does not give you the excuse to dress like a transvestite clown on crack.

This guy could not even walk. He kept knocking people out with his horns.

Night at the Roxbury....Rammer Edition.

He was a little too far west to be rooting for the Minnesota Vikings. I think he just wanted an excuse to wear this hat.

Until the Sun Comes Up Over Santa Monica Boulevard...

We spent most of the day in Santa Monica today. We wanted to go to Hollywood but the traffic was HORRENDOUS so we just kept driving! Now might be a good time to comment on LA. LA is cool, don't get me wrong. We're having a great time. But I don't want to live here. Here are the reasons...
1. People drive like they have no value for their own lives.
2. The people that are not driving at this very moment (I'm convinced that every single person that lives here is driving on an interstate at every single moment of the day. That's the only way I can explain it)...anyway the people that are not driving at this moment are busy putting up the most incomprensible transportation signs on earth. U-Turn anyone?
3. Girls here think opaque panty hose are pants. Either that or they think that their tank top is a dress. Either way, they are really confused.
4. And with their panty hose pants they are wearing leg warmers and stilettos. I'm not joking. and...
5. There is a Denny's Restaurant on every corner. Seriously? Denny's?


But in their defense, the weather is awesome, the people are pretty friendly, almost everyone is a healthy weight (it's kind of ridiculous how healthy everybody is), the food here rocks and is organic, and there's more stuff to do than you can possible experience in one trip...or two...or ten.

This is for you, FRU.

The amusement park on Santa Monica Pier.

Ahhhh...the palm tree.

What can we learn from these pictures????

Matt does not like to ride rides.
But he does like to take pictures safely from the ground.
Except for the ferris wheel. He will ride that.

Conan O'Brien

Let me just start by saying there are alot of rammer jammers out here. Like, they're everywhere. I knew we'd see some people...but seriously its hard to find people other than Alabama and Texas fans. With that said, we met this couple yesterday morning at the Warner Brothers VIP studio tour. They are in their early twenties and are the typical frat/sorority couple. They're nice enough but a little annoying and clingy. He has on an alabama tshirt and a tweed sportcoat. She has on a houndstooth floorlength jacket. Does this paint the picture? When we met them we had just got coffee and were waiting in line to go in. Matt starts talking to the guy and realizes that they also have tickets to Conan for that night (just like us). The guy says "Before this trip is over, we are going to be BEST FRIENDS!!!!" When he says this, I had just taken a gulp of my coffee. I then spewed my coffee on him. Literally, he had to wipe coffee off his face. We have run into these people no less than 3 times since then. My biggest fear is that we are actually going to be best friends at the end of this trip.

But, anyway. We had fun at Conan...lots of energy...neat to see how a live show is taped, etc. They actually shot it in a little under an hour. I highly recommend doing this if you are ever out here.

Warner Brothers Museum

The Warner Brothers museum had alot of memorabilia from movies and tv shows. Alot of outfits worn by different stars and such. They had a room full of cars from different movies. They also had an entire floor of Harry Potter stuff including a "sorting hat" which would actually SORT YOU!!! But you couldn't take pics in there:-(

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Car and Ducati motorcycle from the Matrix movies...

Car from Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood...

"The Tumbler" from The Dark Knight....This car was incredibly detailed in person. I could almost see Christian Bale getting out of this thing...

And that supercool motorcycle from The Dark Knight as well.

Where you Lead I will Follow...

Any...Anywhere that you tell me to.....

Also on the Warner Brothers tour was a bunch of sets from Gilmore girls. I was the only fan of the show out of about 10 of us, so I'm sure they were hating me as I was making the whole tour stop to take pictures. But I knew Mandy and mom would want to see this. It was way cool.

This is Sookie's house.

And this is Loralei's house. It is actually the same house as Sookie's only from the back. I thought that was neat.

Any guesses? It's Luke's Diner.

And Miss Patty's dance studio.

I'll be there for you!!!!

It was really really cool to see some of the places they shot Friends. I took a bunch of pics but these were the best.

This is the alley of that Friends episode where they see Jean Claude Van Dam shooting a movie and Monica and Rachel are fighting over who gets to go talk to him....,

This is the set from the Gellar's house (Monica and Ross's parents). Remember the episode where they did a flashback of prom and Ross had the fro? He came down these steps to take her to prom but she was already leaving. Wow, I am such a freak for knowing all this.

THEY LET US SIT ON THE SOFA!!!! Come on, that's cool. I can see our christmas card for next year...."Wishing all our FRIENDS a happy holidays!" Too cheesy?

California Love

This morning we woke up to a balmy 21 degrees in Birmingham. Tonight as we went to bed, it was about 65 outside. It's a rough life. I'm ready for a break from the cold and this is it! We had an uneventful flight to LAX and are amazed at the beauty of this city. I thought it would be ugly and full of smog, but its really lovely with the mountains against palm trees against the blue sky, etc. Yeah, I see why people live here.
I found our place to stay on VRBO and sometimes it is hit or miss. This was a definite hit. A family rents out their garage apartment to travellers and they have a very nice home. We lucked out because the family is on vacation this week and so we have the run of the place....sweet!

I took the pictures below as soon as we got here. I can definately see drinking some coffee on this balcony tomorrow morning!

I'm not sure what we'll do tomorow...but I know it will involve sleeping in:-)