Our first full day in Los Angeles! We started it off right by buying a map of the stars' houses and proceeded to stalk them. It was fun, but rather difficult. Apparently, these famous people have caught on and installed some serious security and view-blocking shrubbery. However, just seeing the houses in Beverly Hills was a spectacle. Our next stop was appropriately the Kodak Theatre, the place where all the stars gather for the Academy Awards. No pictures were allowed inside but we got to go on a very interesting 
tour, walking in the same halls the Oscar winners walk through. Right across the street was a building where they shot Jimmy Kimmel Live! and we decided to go check it out....and we got in! A nice guy named Link (no lie) guaranteed us in without reservation tickets, and we ended up sitting in the front row of regular seating, right behind the stage managers and camera crew! Everything is so much funnier in person. Afterwards, coming off the high of being on TV (we each have about a second of face/back-of-the-head action on the screen), we finished the day with dinner at In-n-Out Burger, which is the best fast food around.Day 10 5/14/10
LA Day 2. Today we hit up the Pacific Ocean at Santa Monica and Venice Beach. It was such a beautiful day, with a slight breeze to keep it cool. We walked along the boardwalk and took in the amazing sights of the Pacific coast and the downtown area. We continued walking along the shoreline. We had hopes of swimming in the Pacific today, but due to the frigid temperatures of the ocean, we went no further than ankle-deep in the water. Even that sent a shiver up our spines. Attempting to reach the infamous Muscle Beach, we walked along the streets where all the street vendors (and homeless people) had set up shop to sell their goods. We then drove to the famous Rodeo Drive. We did some intense window shopping and dreaming of the high life while strolling the street. Unfortunately, the stores were a bit expensive for us, seeing as we are poor college students, so we headed over to do some real shopping on Hollywood Blvd. Later that day, we headed to the event we had been waiting for - Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum! We were so ready to pose with lots of celebrities. We'll admit, we went a little crazy when we saw the old Western section, especially with Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and James Dean. Yeehaw it was a blast! The only way to conclude the night after Madame Tussaud's was with dessert in Beverly Hills - the Cheesecake Factory since that was just about the only place open.Day 11 5/15/10
The day of driving. We leave Pasadena to head to San Francisco, taking the scenic CA-1 that takes us along the coast yet into the mountains at other times. We drove up the mountains where we were literally driving in the clouds. Driving IN the clouds! There were so many curves and rough roads that it was a mini roller coaster ride. Hours of ups, downs, and many turns later, we reached Monterey Peninsula and dined at a restaurant called Paradiso. We had a spectacular view of the ocean as the sun was setting, although the heavy fog obscured most of the sun. After dinner, we took the most direct route to get to San Francisco.Day 12 5/16/10
We woke up at the break of dawn to get to our Alcatraz Island tour on time. While riding the BART, we saw San Francisco at its finest - today was the day of the city's historic 12k race, in which hundreds of people participate and coordinate teams and costumes. Costumes, as in Supermans, Batmans, Jamaican bobsledding teams, and many many more. All of this bombarded us on our way to Alcatraz - what a sight! Had we known about this earlier, we would have worn our matching CC Roadtrip T-shirts and joined in on the fun. But anyways, we toured Alcatraz complete with audio commentary. That itself was quite an experience - we learned a lot about the island and the inmates as well as regular life on the island. After that we head over to browse along the shops at Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. The pungent smells of fresh fish, sea lions, and seafood could be smelt a mile away. Continuing our walk, we head to the Ghirardelli Factory. Ghirardelli = Heaven! It didn't matter if it was 60 degrees outside, we sat and ate some Ghirardelli ice cream anyways. To balance out the ice cream, we walked uphill and downhill and up again to find Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. By walked, I mean climbed and labored over the ridiculously steep hills. Then we strolled around downtown San Francisco and shopped for a while. We ended our day by staying in for once. Time to relax!
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