A Disney Halloween

Andrew and I decided to take advantage of our Disneyland passes and check out the Halloween decorations this year. We finally made it down there on the last day that they had them out. We actually spent the entire time at California Adventure, which was a lot of fun. We were greeted with giant candy corns, which used to be my favorite Halloween treat! This spider almost got me! But Andrew saved me.

That's one big candy corn!

The inside of California Adventure was decorated so creatively. I loved it.

We spent some time in "Candy Corn Acres."

They had all sorts of crazy things growing there.

Candy Corn Carrots ...

Candy Corn Grapes ...

Candy Corn Corn ... (don't worry, he didn't really eat it.)

It wasn't very crowded so we were able to go on quite a few of our favorite rides. We went on Soaring California which is awesome. We also went on our favorite ride ever, California Screaming, hands down the best roller coaster. We also tried a couple rides we haven't been on. We went on Mulholland Madness (which I do not recommend). We also were finally able to go on the new Toy Story ride. It was a-ma-zing! If you like the Buzz Lightyear ride, you will love this ride. It is so creative and so fun.

Here we are about to go on the ride. It's a 3D ride so you get to wear these sweet glasses. It's an interactive ride where you play carnival games. I loved it!

Here are our scores at the end of the game. Can you guess which player I was and which one Andrew was?

I can't wait to go down for the Christmas decorations!

I heart Disneyland!

It's a sign ...

About a month ago I hiked up to the Hollywood sign with my friends Laney and Krissy. It really wasn't that bad of a hike (I say that now that I am back home and not in the moment!). You obviously can't get up right next to it, but this was still pretty close. I love living so close to famous landmarks like this.

Here are a couple pictures of the great view from up there. Don't you love how clear the air is?

Malibu!

A few weeks ago I went with some friends to a beach in Malibu. We had heard that the beaches were a little nicer out there, so we wanted to go and check them out. Unfortunately that day they were having a surfing competition, so we had to walk pretty far down the beach just to find a place to swim. It was the perfect day for the beach though. We technically were still not supposed to be swimming where we were at, but we still got in the water to cool off for a little while. We spent a lot of time just relaxing on the sand and watching this little cutie, June, play in the sand.
Just as we were leaving this big patch of fog rolled in. It was really interesting to watch it completely envelope the beach that we were on. You can kind of see it in this picture.

After playing at the beach we went to lunch at Duke's. We had all heard how great it was and it did not dissapoint. It is a cute little place right on the beach, with the most amazing view. I had a delicious chicken sandwich with the most amazing criss-cut fries. Yummy!
(Natalie, me, Laney, Erica, Yuka)

Lady of the Angels

A couple weeks ago I went with my friends Laney and Yuka to the Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. It is a really beautiful and interesting building. We went on a Wednesday because they have weekly Organ concerts that day. The day that we went they were actually doing an organ demonstration rather than a concert. The organ sounded beautiful. It weighs forty-two tons and has a total of six thousand and nineteen pipes! You could feel the room shake as it was played.

We then took a free tour of the building. Here are some great pics that Laney took while we were there:

This is the front of the building. The Cathedral is located right next to the Hollywood Freeway (101). Many European Cathedrals are built near rivers, and the architect considered the freeway as "Los Angeles' river of transportation." The construction is unique in that it virtually has no right angles. The color is beautiful and really stands out against the other buildings downtown.

Here is the main entrance to the Cathedral. There are these massive bronze doors with a beautiful statue of Our Lady of the Angels.
This is the inside of the Cathedral. The organ is on the right side. You can see all of the pipes!
They had a lot of stained glass that was preserved from the previous cathedral that had been destroyed during an earthquake. It was all really beautiful.
Here is a picture of me sitting in the Cathedra, the chair for the Archbishop. I didn't think they would let us anywhere near it, let alone sit in it, but our tourguide actually encouraged us to sit in it and take pictures. I was definitely not going to pass up that opportunity. Very comfortable!
Because I know nothing about the Catholic Religion, it was really interesting to take the tour and learn a little about it. The archictecture was beautiful and all of the history, tradition and symbolism was fascinating. I definitely recommend it.

Hot Dogs and Doughnuts!

Hot Dogs and Doughnuts ... they usually don't go together, but for one day ... they did for me. My friend Laney is moving to Utah in a month and so she has decided that she needs to finish up her list of "must see" places in L.A. Because I really don't have anything else to do during the day and I have also wanted to get out and see what there is in this great place that we live, I told her that I would be happy to join her in all of her adventures.

First stop: Pink's Hot Dogs. I had heard a little bit about Pink's before, but not much. Apparently it is a Hollywood hot spot. It has been around for 70 years and is now considered the "Hot Dog to the Stars." With such a big reputation, I had pretty high expectations for this hot dog. When we got there I found out that it's not necessarily in what we call the nice part of town, so that was the first surprise to me. The next was that there was absolutely no line when we got there. Laney and I had both heard how there is always a line at least an hour long. We must have come at the perfect time. Here I am standing just outside Pink's.

Once we got there, we stared at the menu for awhile, trying to decide if we could get away with ordering a hamburger, but decided while we were there we better just get what they are famous for: the chili dog. We were rushed through the line by people who were clearly annoyed that we had never been there before and that we were taking our time trying to decide what we wanted. I ordered my chili dog with no onions and no mustard and then waited and watched as she pulled a hot dog out of a big pot of boiling water, stuck it in a bun and then smothered it with a big spoonful of chili. There it was, my first pink's hot dog, just waiting to be devoured. We quickly found a place to sit so we could eat. Laney took a picture of the first bite (and I can't believe I am actually posting this picture!). I took the first bite and began chewing ... and chewing ... and chewing. Hmmmm... not quite the Hollywood hot dog that I was expecting. The chili wasn't bad, the bun wasn't horrible, but the hot dog was like rubber. So I decided that just like most things in Hollywood, Pink's is famous simply because somebody once said it was good, not because it actually is.

Our next stop: Fritelli's Doughnuts. I had never heard of this place before, but when Laney mentioned doughnuts, I came running! I have now learned that it is Arnold Schwarzenegger's favorite place for doughnuts. It is a cute little shop in Beverly Hills. When we walked, in there was a lady there taking some pictures for a story she was doing for the Beverly Hills Courier. She must have thought we looked famous because she asked if we would pose for some pictures for her. We were happy to help out. She took a few pictures of us looking at the doughnuts and ordering them. We then had to pose for pictures as we sat at the tables pretending to eat our doughnuts. It was pretty funny and I hope that we can somehow find the story so we can see how they turned out. But the doughnuts were amazing. I ordered a couple for myself and then took some home for Andrew, but then realized that he was out of town so I had to eat them all myself that night for dinner. The one that I am holding in the picture was the red velvet. It was delicious!

So my suggestion if you are travelling to L.A.: skip the hot dogs and go straight for the doughnuts!