Another California Adventure! – Baja Mexico & Mexican Riviera aboard the Miracle & Panorama (with pics) – October 2021.

[Jamman54]

Rodeo Drive sign…..

 

 

Every store is a high end store. No Walmart or Target here…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Beverly Hills information…..

 

 

As we pass a Cheesecake Factory, Patti spots Howie Mandel sitting outside…..

 

 

Patti is Beverly Hills Beautiful…..

 

 

 

The Beverly Canon Gardens…..

 

 

 

 

This is a popular place were some of the “Beautiful People” hang out…..

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We are back in the van heading to our next stop which will be the Farmers Market. We pass the Beverly Hills sign…..

 

 

This is the “poor” section of Beverly Hills. If you’re not in the hills, you’re nothing…..

 

 

 

We’re turning onto Sunset Blvd…..

 

 

We’re passing quite a few popular venues. This is On the Rox…..

 

 

Whiskey a Go-Go…..

 

 

We are passing the infamous Viper Room. Sorry for the poor photo…..

 

 

The Sunset Plaza…..

 

 

 

The Comedy Store…..

 

 

 

Carney’s…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We are passing CBS Studios which is right next door to the Farmers Market….

 

 

We have arrived at the Farmers Market…..

 

 

 

 

We have a little over an hour to explore here. We decide to eat lunch first at the Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill……

 

 

Our first drinks of the day…..

 

 

Patti had a cheeseburger and fries…..

 

 

I started with an order of potato skins and followed with this sandwich that had everything on it. It was good!

 

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

After eating we still had half an hour left, so Patti went off exploring while I made this place a husband daycare. Patti took a lot of pictures in that half hour of both the Farmers Market and The Grove…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Here are more pictures from the Farmers Market and The Grove…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Soon it was time to head to our next destination. Here we are passing a very popular hot dog place called “Pink’s”. It’s not unusual to have to wait for over an hour to order…..

 

 

We are heading to the hills….literally. Our next stop is the Griffith Observatory high in the hills overlooking Los Angeles…..

 

 

As we make our way there, we pass Paramount Pictures Studio…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also pass the Sunset Bronson Studios…..

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We have arrived at the Griffith Observatory……

 

 

 

Here are Patti and me with the Hollywood sign in the background…..

 

 

 

 

This is the Griffith Observatory…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Here are some views from the Griffith Observatory overlooking Los Angeles County…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

We take a quick look inside the Observatory…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[blarko]

These photos from your LA tour are all so cool 😎 

[Jamman54]

3 minutes ago, blarko said:

These photos from your LA tour are all so cool 😎 

 

Thanks! That's why we like to cover our adventures from the very beginning until the very end! 

[Jamman54]

We are back outside. Here are some more views looking out from the Observatory…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are now back in the van heading to our last stop of the tour. We pass the Hollywood Tower which was the inspiration for Disney’s Tower of Terror…..

 

 

 

 

We are passing the Capitol Records building. How many times have you seen this building destroyed in the movies?

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

We are passing the Church of Scientology……

 

 

 

 

 

We have arrived at Hollywood Blvd. and the Walk of Fame…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We have boots on the ground now. Looking over at the Roosevelt Hotel…..

 

 

You can spend the whole day taking pictures of these. I noticed that there were a lot of these stars, of some very famous people, that were scuffed, dirty, and dingy and not very photogenic……

 

 

Madame Tussauds…..

 

 

Graumans Chinese Theatre……

 

 

 

 

 

Again, you can spend all day taking pictures of these. Here are a few highlights…..

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Here are a few more notables…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went into La La Land to look around and use the restroom. Elvis was there with his blue suede shoes…..

 

 

 

 

That was the end of the tour. Quite a few people were at nearby hotels so they would not be going back to Santa Monica. We are leaving Hollywood and heading to Santa Monica as the sun begins to drop in the west….. 

 

 

 

Most would be getting off in Santa Monica, and the last six of us would be taken back to our LAX hotels. We had talked about getting off in Santa Monica and making our way back ourselves, but it had been a long day and we were tired.

 

We were the last ones to get off the van after arriving back at the LAX Hilton at 6:30 pm. We thanked Jason for a job well done and tipped him well for his efforts. We grabbed some sandwiches, snacks, and drinks from The Bistro and went back to the room for the night.

 

Coming up next: Our final day in LA, and taking the red eye back to New Jersey.

[luvcruzing]

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

you can spend all day taking pictures of these.

When you stated it was an eight-hour tour, my first thought was that was a long time.  But, now I see it only scratches the surface. So much to see and do. Thanks for taking us along.

[cruisingguy007]

Great photos! Love Weho! We usually stay at the Ramada Plaza by Wyndham West Hollywood Hotel & Suites when we stay over there and I'd highly recommend it for location & value. We usually stay there when we go to Universal studios as well. I really like that area in general, so much to see and do with so many iconic places in the vicinity. I've been to every place in your photos and it's bringing back some vacation memories for me. Enjoying this review! Great job!  

 

[cruisingguy007]

If you end up in LA proper, I'd recommend a trip to Pioneer Chicken as well. Iconic California spot and only a couple left. We used to have one in Mtn. View back in the day, when the major industries were still semiconductor manufacturing, military and aerospace; before tech completely took over the bay area. An old school classic that may not be around much longer. A true west coast fried chicken institution lol. 

Edited December 4, 2021 by cruisingguy007

[Jamman54]

Day # 24  (November 1^st)  -  Our Last Day in LA!

 

We were up at 7 am to a partly cloudy, mid 60’s, kind of day. Looking out our window towards LAX, we could see the New England Patriots jet preparing to take off. They had played the LA Chargers yesterday…..

 

 

Though we are flying out at 11 pm tonight, we will not be checking out this morning. We decided to book the room for an extra day just to have a place to hang out until it was time to leave, and because with the numerous flight cancellations, we would have a place to stay if we got cancelled tonight.

 

We worked on pictures for the review, and checked in for our flight tonight. I went down to the business center and printed out our boarding passes.

 

Patti wanted to head back to Santa Monica and check out the Third Street Promenade. We were going to do this after our tour yesterday, but we were just too tired. So around 10:30 am I called an Uber to take us there. We are on our way back to Santa Monica…..

 

 

The Uber cost us about $30 with tip for the about 30 minute trip. Here we are at the Third Street Promenade. Yesterday, which was Sunday, this place was packed. Today, not so much…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Here are some more views of the nearly deserted Third Street Promenade…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Patti wanted to walk a little further and check out the Outdoor Mall, so I decided to hole up at Barney’s Beanery. Here are some views of an empty Outdoor Mall…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patti makes her way back to Barney’s Beanery…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are toasting to our fantastic time in California…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Here are some more Barney’s Beanery views…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is our last California meal…..

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

While I had another drink, Patti went down the block to check out Carlo’s Bake Shop…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

Edited December 4, 2021 by Jamman54

[Jamman54]

Afterwards, we had another drink and then called an Uber to take us back to the hotel. We were back at the LAX Hilton around 3 pm. We took about a three hour nap, and then completed our packing while watching the Giant game.

 

At 7:30 pm we called the bellman, who came within minutes to get our luggage. We then checked out and boarded a shuttle to the airport.

 

Once we were dropped off at United Airlines we printed our luggage tags, dropped off our bags, went through security, and were at our gate (71B) rather quickly. We have a couple of hours to wait before boarding our flight at around 10:30 pm. Our jet was coming from Newark, and it was running a little late. It showed up about 10:15 pm……

 

 

At 10:45 pm we were called to board so we headed down the jetway…..

 

 

 

On this flight we were in seats 1A & 1B…..

 

 

 

At 11:15 pm we pulled away from the gate…..

 

 

 

 

A short time later we took off from LAX and we are on our way back to Newark, New Jersey…..

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We had never taken a red eye flight before so we didn’t know what to expect. Basically, once we were up in the air the cabin lights were turned off, and if you wanted anything you would just call for the flight attendant. Most people in Business Class just reclined to horizontal and went to sleep. We were only supposed to get snacks on this flight, but Patti and I were offered dinners, which we gladly accepted. I suspect they were left over from the previous flight. Patti had the pasta and I had the chicken…..

 

 

 

I dozed off several times, and in no time at all we were making our final approach to Newark. Here the sun is beginning to rise over New York City…..

 

 

 

 

 

Shortly, we were on the ground eighteen minutes early. But then, we sat on the tarmac for twenty five minutes waiting for our gate to open up…..

 

 

 

 

Once we were parked and off the jet, we met Ryan down in baggage claim at carousel # 6. Two pieces of our luggage had arrived on an earlier flight and were there waiting for us. Once our flight’s bags started dropping, our last two bags showed up rather quickly. Ryan helped us get our bags to the parking deck, loaded up, and I drove us back home to Somerset. Our second California Adventure has officially ended.  THE  END!!!

 

Coming up next:  Our final thoughts and future plans!