California Trip Day 1, Part 1--Playing Tourist

We woke up around 9 is and headed to the breakfast in the concierge lounge.  Well, I read the times wrong and that's when it ended.  Oops!  So we went and picked up our rental car early.  Luckily the LAX Marriott has a Hertz rental car right in the hotel!  So convenient!  We rented it just for the day and was going to return it after the wedding that night.  When we were picking it up, the lady told us they had just gotten a convertible Mustang in and it would just be a little more.  Oooh..I was so tempted.  Driving around Cali with the top down sounded like heaven.  But we declined.  And I'm so glad we did.  We walked outside and it was gray and FREEZING!!!  Like lower 60s and not sunny freezing.  I did not plan this so I was in a tank and short shorts!  Brr!

Anyways, I wanted to head to the TCL Chinese Theatre.  I had been there when I was 12 but hadn't been back since I'd worked at the Great Movie Ride and I needed to see this replica of my home  this tourist attraction that my ride is created after.  Parking was easy and walking up, it was PACKED!  So crowded and I felt like I was in NYC with all of the random people dressed in costume.  But it was so neat to see!  My ride is pretty much EXACTLY like the theatre!  Too neat!

We need a snack bar!  Oh, and they actually have a gift shop!  I had to buy a keychain with the Movie Ride Chinese Theatre on it since I collect keychains and don't have one of my ride.

Then we walked in the shopping complex next door.  I stopped at Hot Topic and picked up a new Frozen Tee and an Aladdin tank. At the top we took some neat pictures of the view around.

I liked the way the shopping center looked

 Then we found this bridgeway between the buildings where you could see the Hollywood sign!

  I was happy with my tourist-playing so we headed to lunch at In-N-Out.  I had to have my burger Animal Style of course! I have only eaten there once on my last trip to Cali but it's soooo good!  I wish we had one here!

We headed back to the hotel to take a quick nap, shower, and get dressed for Derek and Liz's wedding that night.  When I had made the car rental reservation, I thought I was being smart.  We only needed it for one day and the cost was only $25 for the day.  The fee to park at the hotel was $23 a day.  Not necessary, so I planned on picking up early and dropping it off late.  I didn't really think about the parking while we were getting ready for the wedding.  Oops!  We noticed that you can get it validated if you're there under 3 hours at one of the restaurants. So we were ready in 2 hours and 50 minutes, and ran downstairs to one of the bars and I ordered a glass of wine and Kory had a beer.  I think it's the fastest I've ever drank a glass of wine!  The bartender probably thought we were crazy (considering we were all dressed up too!)  We headed out to the car and out of the parking lot just in time!

And we were on the way to the wedding!