Road Trip 2007 : Day 5 (From San Diego to Los Angeles)
Our last day in San Diego, we planned on going to the San Diego Pride Parade but after no luck find a parking spot, I finally gave up and made the decision to bypass the parade altogether and head directly to Los Angeles.
Half way to LA we stopped in Oceanside, CA for food. We walked along the pier and finally stopped at a Bubble Tea. After a croissant breakfast sandwich from Crepes Up! and peach flavored tea, we got back on the road.
We finally reached the outskirts of the LA and we hit TRAFFIC. The traffic jam added about 30 minutes to our travel time but we finally made it to our hotel in downtown LA. Not before getting lost due to Google Maps faulty directions. The hotel was nice, but the thing that I hate is when you shell out big bucks for a hotel AND THEN you don't have free wi-fi Internet access in your room. Why is that? Anyway ... we checked in, freshened up, and headed to Hollywood.
More traffic later, we finally made it to Hollywood & Highland Center right next to the Kodak Theatre.
We exited the mall and headed to the Graumans's Chinese Theatre. The plan was quickly abandoned when we saw of all of the tourists. It was so jammed packed full of people that I began to feel claustrophobic that I had to get out of there. We stopped at a local drug store for water and we began to walk down Hollywood Blvd. to Sunset (Strip) Blvd. We thought were heading toward the gay area but we obviously going the wrong way. I did want to ask for direction to the "gay area," for obviously reasons. But my friend had no shame and we got back on course and we were in the gay area in about 10 minutes.
The gay strip in West Hollywood was an experience considering it is so much bigger than the gay strip in Dallas. The guys, on the other hand, were so generic in LA. It seems like everyone looked the same but in a different race. It was weird. We took a break at a bookstore, and I noticed a woman reading the new Harry Potter book with a cup of Pinkberry. I asked where the nearest Pinkberry was and she pointed me in the right direction.
Before entering Pinkberry, the doorman greeted me (yeah...they have a doorman) with a "Welcome to Pinkberry!" and I had to figure out what the hell was Pinkberry so I could make an order. I thought it was ice cream but it actually some kind of frozen yogurt treat. I got a green tea with raspberries, blueberries and chocolate chips. It was weird, yet delicious.
We made our way back to the Hollywood & Highland Center three hours after we started, and the crowds were still huge. On our way to the food court I saw someone familiar. I have seen him somewhere but I wasn't sure where ... until it hit me.
Okay ... I am going to ask you not to judge me when I reveal how the person was. Thanks!
I recently watched a documentary called Mr. Leather, that Rich wrote about on his blog FourFour. I really liked it, but Rich ... not so much.
His name was Gannon Grey. Gannon was walking in front of us in a "Butch Bear" long-sleeve t-shirt and I excitedly I told my friend who was. I know the guy wasn't "famous" but I still excited. My friend told me that I should go talk to him but I couldn't work up the nerve to introduce myself, so I decide to stalk (in a good way) him a bit further. After he got himself a cookie/ice-cream treat from Nestlé and took a seat in the middle of the food court, I decided to make my move. I casually walked up to him and asked if he was from the documentary, which he confirmed my identification, and we chatted for a minute. I was a wreck. He was very nice to indulge me. He was much more handsome in person than in the documentary. He was a bit more grey and thinner, but handsome nonetheless. This even made me more nervous, so I decided not to ask to take a picture with him because I had to get out of there before I made a lost it.
We walked around the mall a bit more before heading Santa Monica Beach.
Santa Monica Beach was fun ... scary, expensive, cold ... but fun.
We had dinner at the Third Street Promenade were we had to wait almost and hour for pizza. It took about 20 minutes before our waiter even greeted us. We were not happy about our service.
We heading back to the hotel and crashed for the night.
Half way to LA we stopped in Oceanside, CA for food. We walked along the pier and finally stopped at a Bubble Tea. After a croissant breakfast sandwich from Crepes Up! and peach flavored tea, we got back on the road.
We finally reached the outskirts of the LA and we hit TRAFFIC. The traffic jam added about 30 minutes to our travel time but we finally made it to our hotel in downtown LA. Not before getting lost due to Google Maps faulty directions. The hotel was nice, but the thing that I hate is when you shell out big bucks for a hotel AND THEN you don't have free wi-fi Internet access in your room. Why is that? Anyway ... we checked in, freshened up, and headed to Hollywood.
More traffic later, we finally made it to Hollywood & Highland Center right next to the Kodak Theatre.
We exited the mall and headed to the Graumans's Chinese Theatre. The plan was quickly abandoned when we saw of all of the tourists. It was so jammed packed full of people that I began to feel claustrophobic that I had to get out of there. We stopped at a local drug store for water and we began to walk down Hollywood Blvd. to Sunset (Strip) Blvd. We thought were heading toward the gay area but we obviously going the wrong way. I did want to ask for direction to the "gay area," for obviously reasons. But my friend had no shame and we got back on course and we were in the gay area in about 10 minutes.
The gay strip in West Hollywood was an experience considering it is so much bigger than the gay strip in Dallas. The guys, on the other hand, were so generic in LA. It seems like everyone looked the same but in a different race. It was weird. We took a break at a bookstore, and I noticed a woman reading the new Harry Potter book with a cup of Pinkberry. I asked where the nearest Pinkberry was and she pointed me in the right direction.
Before entering Pinkberry, the doorman greeted me (yeah...they have a doorman) with a "Welcome to Pinkberry!" and I had to figure out what the hell was Pinkberry so I could make an order. I thought it was ice cream but it actually some kind of frozen yogurt treat. I got a green tea with raspberries, blueberries and chocolate chips. It was weird, yet delicious.
We made our way back to the Hollywood & Highland Center three hours after we started, and the crowds were still huge. On our way to the food court I saw someone familiar. I have seen him somewhere but I wasn't sure where ... until it hit me.
Okay ... I am going to ask you not to judge me when I reveal how the person was. Thanks!
I recently watched a documentary called Mr. Leather, that Rich wrote about on his blog FourFour. I really liked it, but Rich ... not so much.
His name was Gannon Grey. Gannon was walking in front of us in a "Butch Bear" long-sleeve t-shirt and I excitedly I told my friend who was. I know the guy wasn't "famous" but I still excited. My friend told me that I should go talk to him but I couldn't work up the nerve to introduce myself, so I decide to stalk (in a good way) him a bit further. After he got himself a cookie/ice-cream treat from Nestlé and took a seat in the middle of the food court, I decided to make my move. I casually walked up to him and asked if he was from the documentary, which he confirmed my identification, and we chatted for a minute. I was a wreck. He was very nice to indulge me. He was much more handsome in person than in the documentary. He was a bit more grey and thinner, but handsome nonetheless. This even made me more nervous, so I decided not to ask to take a picture with him because I had to get out of there before I made a lost it.
We walked around the mall a bit more before heading Santa Monica Beach.
Santa Monica Beach was fun ... scary, expensive, cold ... but fun.
We had dinner at the Third Street Promenade were we had to wait almost and hour for pizza. It took about 20 minutes before our waiter even greeted us. We were not happy about our service.
We heading back to the hotel and crashed for the night.
Labels: los angeles, people, photos, road trip, san diego, santa monica beach, travel
by Killervirgo @ 8:02 PM| --- Say, what?
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