Help Me Dr Phil

Yesterday morning we headed off to LA and ended up staying in a hostel right beside the Kodak Theatre, yes the one for the Academy Awards. Played tourist for the afternoon walking up and down Hollywood Blvd, to the Chinese Museum where stars put their foot and hand prints in cement, along with the avenue of stars. Then, last night we went to a live taping of 'Rules of Engagement' with David Spade, in Sony Studios. It was lots of fun, and I have a greater appreciation for David Spade now - he is really funny, and as the writers would re-write lines to make them even funnier, he would do them perfect on the spot. The studio also gives you Pizza while the taping is on, bonus! Cruised Sunset Blvd on the way home but didn't catch any celebs in any indecent acts :(. This morning we got a bit more of the the 'Hollywood' stuff in and went off to Paramount Studios for a live taping of Dr Phil - 'My child wont stop eating' episode. Who knows when it will be on in Australia, but it was all a bit of fun. Pete & I were in the tiered seating, 2nd row, 2nd bunch of people looking at the stage.

Drivers are absolutely crazy in LA, swerving in and out of lanes and going 20-30 mile over the speed limit, however, in general people seem to be a bit more laid back than in New York. All in all, 24 hours was enough for us though, and we were ready to move on.

By lunch time we were heading north on Highway 1. Bit slow out of LA, but after a while the houses disappear and its more open, beautiful scenery with the magnificent pacific ocean. At sunset we were about 1.5hr from Monteray Bay and stopped at the side of the road to watch the sun go down over the water, then noticed below us a colony of sea lions, amazing. An hour later and we were in the dark going around the tight hairpin bends, and stopped on the side of the road to look up at the stars - no moon, no lights, so a very bright glittering sky. One of the state forests we drove through was also on fire. We weren't in any danger, plenty of forest fire brigades going up and down the highway, but it too looked magnificent in its own way, this blazing red in the darkness of night.

For the night was have stopped in Monteray Bay, and will go down to the pier and maybe the aquarium in the morning. Then will be hitting the road again, heading through San Francisco to Sanoma near the Napa Valley to visit another friend, Adam.

B!