Introducing…

 

Name: Savannah

Title: Mi Sobrina (Niece)

Aliases: Savannah Rae, Limp Noodle, Bear Paw

Specialties: All things softball, family values, can drink her dad under the table (just kidding)

As some of you may remember, and many of you won’t, last year we hosted our Nephew Jacoby in San Francisco to celebrate his high school graduation.  Well, this year it was his Sister Savannah’s turn.  Only this time, in L.A.!

 

FRIDAY

Her flight got into town around 12:10 in the afternoon on Aug 6, and JP was right behind her, getting in at 12:15.  We were all pretty much at “feed the bear” stage, so we paid a visit to our local Wahoo’s for some fish tacos.

 

Since we were in the neighborhood, we walked down to Santa Monica Beach.  While JP and Lea laid around like a couple lazy sacks of potatoes, Savannah and I were in the surf, passing the volleyball.  It was exhausting, which was the only reason why JP and Lea spanked us after their refreshing naps in 3 games of Volleyball.  Nothing else can explain it.

For dinner, we ate at one of the hottest seats in town.  Pizzeria Mozza.  A Mario Batali restaurant.  The best thing about this place, besides the food, is the wine list.  It’s all Italian, which is challenging for me, but they tout “50 under 50.”  50 wines under $50.  In a restaurant like this, they could easily set the starting price at $50; but instead, they choose to allow people to drink wine.  I love it.

Something else we love…bone marrow.  It sounds a little gross, but it smears over garlic bread like soft butter.  Mmm….

And just like that, Friday was done.

SATURDAY

Saturday morning, however, had much in store.  Strap in.  This day is FULL, starting with the Santa Monica farmers market.

These are some of the most delicious looking strawberries I’ve ever seen.  They’re of the Gaviota variety.

From there, we were on the hunt for celebrities!  Where better to do that than Beverly Hills?  And who would know better where to look than a professional trolley tour?  Nobody!  That’s who.

It started with a trip down Rodeo Drive with the tour guide reading the names of the stores to us.  Borrring.  But there was a Bugatti parked on the street that drew a crowd of people like a street performer.

Then we headed into the neighborhood.  This home was designed by Antoni Goudi, the famous Spanish architect.

After the tour (only 45 minutes), we decided to do a little searching by foot.

As an aside, I was finally able to photograph a hummingbird!  This isn’t as I close as I had hoped, but I’ll do better next time.

Lea is a huge Julia Roberts fan, and just across the street from us was the Beverly Wilshire Hotel – the setting for the movie Pretty Woman.

This guy was so cool. He was decked out, head-to-toe, in Louis Vuitton. Hat, shirt, jeans, shoes… Standing outside, staring at his own car.  Hoh boy.

A shot inside the lobby.

Next, we were on to Hollywood, and the Walk of Fame. We started with lunch at Hard Rock.

This location had just opened the week prior, and it had a wicked, interactive screen in the lobby.  Our wait was 45 minutes, but this thing made it feel like 5.

Since we had struck out on the celebrity sighting in Beverly Hills, we figured we’d at least try to find some great stars on the Walk of Fame.  Did you know that Lea has some strange thing for Jackie Chan movies? It’s true.

I have an equally odd thing for Harrison Ford movies.

It’s hard to see here, but JP’s guilty pleasure is Kenny Rogers.

And Savannah picked Tim McGraw. Not very creative if you ask me. 😉

This one’s for you, Judi. Ritchie Valens!

In case you didn’t know, this is Kodak Theatre where they host the Oscars.

And Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, which plays host to many movie premieres…

And look how close they all are together!

Hollywood. Hollywood. Hollywood always up to no good.  The sign is surprisingly hard to get close to, and this is one of the best views, down Beachwood Drive.

Can’t see the sign? OK, fine.

And here’s another view from Griffith Park.

We came up to check out some views of the city, and while we were up there, grabbed a few from the observatory.

Smog.

Foucault pendulum, in the lobby of the Observatory. Fast.

Slow.

Slower.

Don’t even think the fun for this day was done. Guess where we went next!

If you guessed a Dodgers game, you were right!  Because there are two natural questions that always come next – they played the Washington Nationals, and won.

LASTLY, we finished the night by introducing Savannah to the pleasures of Pinkberry.  She doesn’t drink.  She doesn’t do drugs.  But thanks to us, she now does Pinkberry.

 

Tune in next time to see how we wrapped up her trip.  The finale is doozy…

 

Cheers!