After visiting the Academy Museum we still have several hours and decided to see the Peterson Automotive Museum, which is right across the street. In our travels we have been to several car museums and they are always fun and interesting. First I should start with the fact that this museum is housed in hands down one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen. It really grabs your attention and definitely evokes a racing feel. It is also very popular and when we went in it was pretty crowded, but it was laid out in such a way that you could see the cars.
I was pretty hungry when we went in but there was a wait for the cafe so we started with the Tesla Special Exhibit. This was a combination of actual Tesla’s and prototype’s and personally I found the prototypes pretty interesting.
This Pod is supposed to go in a tube for super fast travel. Very interesting. I also thought the robot was pretty cool
After a really nice lunch in the cafe, we took the advice of the staff and started on the third floor and worked our way down. By far the best section in the entire museum was on the third floor and it was a group of cars that were in different movies. This was fantastic and Lee and I spent lots of time looking at them. The DeLorean, Mystery Machine, and Eleanor were our favorites!!
The car with Black Panther scratches on itELEANOR!!!!I sent this picture to Oliver and told him I got to meet Lightning McQueen. His response was awesome 🙂
As great as the movie section was the history section as just so-so. They do have another 100 cars you can see but a private tour is required for that. The highlight for us was seeing a Tucker Torpedo which we had never seen.
The TorpedoI love Jaguars
They also had collections of electric cars and electric bikes which was kind of interesting but the big draw was definitely the race cars. Lee and I aren’t into racing so for us this section wasn’t a big deal but there were tons of families who loved it.
This little guy was super cute
One nice thing about this museum is it is super kid friendly and they had a whole section on the second floor that allowed kids to build racetracks and design cars. I also think the tour would be a lot of fun but we didn’t have enough time that day. One last special section they had was a group of Andy Warhol pictures and the cars that inspired them. I thought it would be really cool but honestly it wasn’t really it was just a partially finished project Andy Warhol started but didn’t finish. The gift shop was really great though and offered some really cool things including license plates from cars from movies which was super cool.
It isn’t the best car museum we have ever been to ( That is Harrah’s Automobile Collection in Reno) but it was definitely in the Top Five and well worth the trip if you are in town.
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When we put our initial LA list together in the top 5 was the Academy of Motion Pictures museum. I have watched the Oscars every year of my adult life and have followed closely the Academy itself has it has tried to diversify and remain relevant in today’s world. A few years ago they started talking about a museum and I was very excited because the history of motion pictures is very interesting to me.
The museum itself was a little difficult to find actually and doesn’t have it’s own parking garage. We ended up parking across the street at the Peterson Automobile Museum which is across the street and walked over. We found the right building but had some difficulty finding the right door but eventually made it in. The museum took over a large department store and they stripped it so inside it has a warehouse feel. The lobby itself is huge and has restaurant, bar, and gift shop.
I am going to say right up front that I was pretty disappointed. The good news is the museum is only 14 months old and is still figuring out what it wants to be. There were large sections of space that had TV screens with movie clips and then other sections where a big topic was jammed into a small section. I get it, the Academy covers a lot of topics but almost all of them in my opinion were done somewhat poorly. There were a couple of stand outs though and the $25 ticket was reasonable enough that I was still glad I went.
There are basically 4 floors and each floor has sections but they didn’t really follow a pattern as far as I could see. I will just show you the sections as we saw them but don’t expect any kind of an historical flow. Actually I would have been fine with each group of awards having its own section, but it didn’t seem grouped that way either. If it was again didn’t make much sense to me and I follow the Oscars pretty closely.
The one surviving rosebud from Citizen Kane
The first section really bothered me because it was a collection of movies showing diversity. Since I am very aware of how much of a struggle diversity has been in the nominees and winners I truly though this was somewhat disingenuous. That being said I saw the look on an Asian person’s face in the Bruce Lee section and they seemed deeply moved by it.
The next section was actors and actresses accepting their awards and again diversity was stressed. They had a display with VERY small print showing year by year but it was too much to read. I did enjoy some of the acceptance outfits in this section in particular the dress Halle Berry wore. I vividly remember how emotional her speech was so that was nice to see.
Then they had a special exhibit on The Godfather which was actually one of the coolest things we saw. It had costumes, scripts, a mockup of the horse’s head, and the desk The Godfather sat at. If more of the museum was like this section it would have been terrrific.
The desk…this was coolThe instrument that made some of the eerie music
Next was the costume area and this was one of my top two favorite. Actually they called it the Identity Area and it included costumes, makeup, prosthetics, and wigs. Very well done. I don’t know if they let the costume people design this section but really they should let every area be designed by the experts in that area.
Outfit worn in Mamma MiaThe shoes were greatMrs. Doubtfire!!
Like I said some section were good others were not. The stories area for example just had some TV screens with clips.
The animation section was ok but again I think this could have been much better. I did like that Merry Melodies was included.
The special effects area was really disappointing. It was very small and really insufficient in my opinion.
That being said the next section was around world building and science fiction and it was fantastic. They had R2D2 and C3P0 along with lots of other models for created characters. For me this was worth the price of the ticket and I particularly loved how it was dark but the lighting made it easy to take really good pictures. Extremely well done!!
So coolWakandaEdward ScissorhandsEvery single Orc had a unique face (there were over 10,000 extras) Wayne Manor Model They had a great science fiction compilations movie shown in the round
The most disappointing thing was that we spent an extra $15 on the “Oscar experience”. Basically you get to hold an Oscar and they film you accepting. The clip (which is less than 15 seconds) is then emailed to you. And there is no sound. The whole thing was somewhat cheesy and not worth an extra $15 in my opinion.
Another really good section was about the history of black cinema. This was extremely well done and I saw several people of color deeply impacted by what they saw. I was shocked that when some of the early vaudeville people of color were filmed they had to wear blackface. Insanity. They also had quite a bit about Josephine Baker who made movies in France because she didn’t want to deal with the discrimination in Hollywood. My absolute favorite exhibit was the tap shoes from the famous Nicholas brother from Stormy Weather. I actually almost got in trouble because I got too close when I tried to take a picture. That piece of history was very special.
As wonderful as that exhibit was the next exhibit was the impact of women on Cinema and it was dismal. Really so bad it made me angry. All there was was one small picture for all of these ground breaking women. Really upsetting.
Finally there is an open air area where you can see the city. This is used as a venue area and I appreciated the view.
Finally I went to the gift store and I was super disappointed. All I wanted was a miniature gold statue I could get my grandkids but they didn’t have them despite the clerk telling me there was a ton of demand for them. I know I have been really tough in this review but only because I think this museum has so much potential. I really hope the academy doesn’t let politics get in the way of this museum reaching its full potential.
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You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
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Let me back up a little bit. After Thanksgiving an old boss of mine reached out and said he knew of a job I might be perfect for. It was the same company, but in the Global Products division working on supply chain processes. I have wanted for years to work in international supply chain, but it’s tough to break in if you don’t have specific supply chain experience, but in this case the recommendation of my old boss and three really good interviews won me the job.
The position is a huge step up for me both financially and in responsibility, but I had been restless for a while and Lee encouraged me throughout the process. The new job was starting Dec 27th, right when I got back from vacation, and we both knew I would need to focus on it for awhile. To be clear I don’t ever want to go back to the job always taking precedence over life, but I was clear about the fact I would need a little time to get my feet under me. I have a lot to learn in this new environment.
And everything would have been totally fine because we had the bulk of things we wanted to do scheduled during the 10 day vacation. Then I got sick and everything went to Hell. A surprising amount of the things on our list actually can’t be done on the weekends (studio tours for example are only Mon – Friday) and Lee has several friends in the area we had to cancel plans to meet with again all during the work week. It was frustrating for both of us and although I strongly encouraged him to just go ahead and go without me, he didn’t want to. So time is slipping away and things are getting pushed off the list.
We drove down to the Los Angeles Rams football stadium and then because it was a really clear day we went to see the Hollywood sign. Both things mattered to me and we got to check a couple things off the list.
I have to guess it was so clear (ie: no smog) because less holiday traffic, but these were the first days we got clear views of the LA skyline.
Lastly because of the clear views we wanted to see the Hollywood Sign. There is a park where you can see the sign but Lee had done his research and wanted to drive up to the end of the residential street where you could get the closest to it. We weren’t the only ones with the idea, but we drove up the twisty turny road and somehow found a parking space and then had to walk roughly 1/4 mile up hill to the views. We were so close (and with Lee’s word in my head) I got my ass out of the truck and started walking, which turned out to be ok just took me a while. The view did give me goosebumps though and we got some great pictures.
These Apts run $2K – $5K for 1-2 bedroom FYIThis sign said Hollywoodland Realty, Old school HollywoodStreets got narrower higher we wentFirst glimpse of the sign
We didn’t expect the road to the viewing point to be blocked up but as I said we got lucky and found a place to park. I will say there are no bathrooms or facilities of any kind up there and I feel really bad for the people who live there because it is a steady stream of traffic. I wonder how many of these homes have been turned into rentals because frankly it can’t be pleasant.
This convertible on the roof of a house seemed very Californian to meAll glass windows Yikes!!
Finally we got our pictures and I did feel better than I looked in them. I was definitely done for the day though so afterwards we headed home.
Like I said it was very cool being that close but I needed a break for the day. The next few days I started my new job but thankfully my new boss was mostly out on vacation and I could take my time and pace myself. It took the full three days until I felt even remotely in good shape but the last day we went to the doctor and I am infection free!!! Thankfully I had the next four days off for New Years (holidays fell weird this year but it definitely worked to my benefit) and we will be trying to do something every day. The key is I need to pace myself and not over do it and we are in the process of trying to reschedule as much as we can for evenings and weekends. Some things (like the Warner Bros Studio Tour) Lee is just going to have to do alone but at least one of us gets to do it.
I have days off I could take but am not comfortable taking them until I get a handle on this new job and show my boss a little of what I have got. I’ll do the best I can to find some balance and hopefully we can salvage some of this trip for both of us. The one good piece of news is we don’t have anywhere we absolutely have to be until end of April. If we can find a place to stay here (no small feat) we could theoretically stay indefinitely. Just have to see how it goes.
Oh and one last thing. For those of you waiting on the annual budget it will absolutely get done, but at this point I have no idea when. For obvious reasons that is falling to the bottom of the list, but I promise eventually I will get it done.
We very much appreciate your support of our blog
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes
As wonderful as the Paramount Tour was the next day I knew I was getting sick, really sick. I was 95% sure that I passed a kidney stone and hope I would just need a couple of days to get me back on my feet. At this point it was Dec 16th and I was on vacation until Dec 27th so although it wasn’t ideal, a couple of days wouldn’t be the end of the world, as long as I felt better by Dec 20th (for our big Disneyland day) I would be fine,
If you are wondering why I was sure I was passing a kidney stone, a couple months before I had my first ever one and the November CT scan I took showed there was a second one in the left kidney. Everything felt similar so it was just a matter of waiting it out. One big difference between this time and that time though was I didn’t take an antibiotic. People talked about the pain but we didn’t talk about an antibiotic and last time the doctors just gave me one.
This time after the stone passed I just got sicker and sicker. The back pain was intense, but worse I had abdominal pain, severe lack of appetite, I was sleeping 14-16 hours a day. Since we had a huge list of stuff we wanted to do I tried to rally a couple of times and see some sites, but I could only stand to be in the car a few hours at a time because all the road bumps hurt. Sorry the pictures are terrible but that was the best I could do.
Finally Lee had enough and said I had to go to the doctor and get checked out and since I was terrified of going to an ER, and I mean seriously terrified, we compromised on an Urgent Care just around the corner. It was very nice and by Monday morning I had added these wracking uncontrollable chills to the mix. Those freaked me out but unfortunately they also look like drug seeking behaviors. Basically I looked like a drug addict who needed a fix. Drug use is everywhere but they are particularly vigilant here and they didn’t know me. Thank heavens I managed to get through to one doctor. I think the fact we had cancelled Disneyland (my dream since I was eight) got through to him and he gave me a antibiotic shot on the spot. He also gave me a 10 day prescription for CIPRO (which is some heavy duty stuff).
Lastly he was concerned about possible appendicitis since I was having so much pain in the abdomen and wanted me to get another CT scan to check on stones and appendicitis. I said absolutely and they got me an afternoon appt at North Hollywood. I went back to the RV and laid down and a couple hours later got a call the North Hollywood machine was broken. At this point I felt I might have appendicitis so we had to find another one in their group. I picked Beverly Hills simply because I felt it would be in a safe neighborhood and got an appt at 1pm .
I should probably say here that during our driving on Sunday we went to downtown LA and I was really turned off by it. We have been to many cities with a homeless problem but this all felt bleak and scary. Plus there is graffiti everywhere (and not the community uplifting kind) and the trash is really bad. I know I was sick and that colored everything but it was pretty scary, even on a Sunday morning. The new Mayor of Los Angeles is calling a state of emergency because of the homelessness issues and I have to say I would agree. As a side note someone asked me if there were lots of illegal aliens in a comments and this may not be popular but I don’t know or care. For me people are either contributing members of society or tearing a society down and their legal status doesn’t necessarily determine that. Mental Health however definitely does, and what makes (for me) the tent cities so scary are the obviously unstable people. Not their fault, and yes those folks are everywhere, but here they are on the streets. Anyways those are my thoughts. YMMV.
Lee drove me to the CT scan in Beverly Hills and the contrast between it and LA was bizarre. In particular the city hall and police station were the nicest I have ever seen and I was also interested in the fact there were some section of town with tiny houses which I though might be where some city employees live. Not sure.
City Hall
The MRI spot was very small so I told Lee to go ahead and wait outside which was a huge mistake. They got me in pretty quick and then I had to change in a very small dressing room. By this time I was freezing and felt terrible and had trouble following even simple instructions. They treated me OK until the CT scan was over and then they sent me back out to the waiting room. As I was sitting there a woman walked in who was obviously from Beverly Hills. No mask, no ID, dressed like she was going to a fancy dinner, and no doctors orders came in and expected to get a CT Scan done because her Doctor was taking care of it. It gave me some comfort when they told her they couldn’t help her. Finally my results were done and the technician (who was a pretty big guy) came out and stood between me and the door. He said the tests were all negative and “he couldn’t help me”. I was like what? OK the tests are negative, that’s good, now what? I looked at the guy and again he said I can’t help you. Not go home and your doctor will call you just that. So I asked for a copy of the write up and then I left and went home.
It took me a few hours laying in bed to make sense of what happened and I realized he thought I was drug seeking. Wow…OK. Thankfully my doctor from the Urgent Care called and said it was good news and just take the CIPRO for the next 10 days and come back in if I needed to. Ok. So I went home and got worse and worse. I was originally diagnosed with a kidney infection which can be extremely serious if it turns into sepsis. After I got the bactrim shot the uncontrollable shaking stopped, but I was extremely nauseous and could barely eat. I drank lots of fluids (mostly SMART Water which I tried because my Mom likes it) and it was a lifesaver everything tasted terrible but I could keep that down. I also ate lots of bananas. I am not a huge banana fan but they tasted good and I also drank as much orange juice as I could handle. To give you an idea of how messed up this was, I didn’t have a regular bowel movement for 12 days. When Christmas morning I finally did it seriously felt like a Christmas miracle.
Speaking of Christmas I was too sick to talk to anyone and too sick to watch Oliver open his presents. That had to wait until a few days later. I was a mess. The absolute worst though was how altered I was mentally. I knew things were bad when one morning I went into the shower and couldn’t remember what the shampoo was for. I would forget to brush my hair, forget to brush my teeth, my words were slurring, and I couldn’t complete sentences. At this point Lee was getting freaked out (rightly so) but I was still adamant I didn’t want to go to a hospital so we got my brother on the phone (he’s my primary care physician) and he gave Lee a list of things I would absolutely have to go to the hospital for (ie: high fever, constant slurring of words, passing out, etc) and I agreed. I knew at this point I wasn’t in my right mind and would have to rely on Lee to be the watchdog. Lee also wanted to get me some pain meds, which I finally agreed to. I don’t like taking pain meds but at this point I was up for anything. Unfortunately we learned that California does not allow out of state doctors to call Class II or above meds into their pharmacies so I was out of luck.
Let me give you a quick explanation on why I didn’t want to go to the ER. All of my immediate family is in the medical industry and I have been listening to their horror stories my entire life. Yes there are good, young doctors in ER’s but they are also overworked, underpaid, and ill supervised. The busier the hospital the worse things can be and either overtreating or undertreating are very common. The key in an ER is to have health advocacy with you all the way through. I love Lee but this is not his area of expertise. I came close to flying somewhere but my Mother was on an Amazon cruise, my Dad was with my sister and my brother was going on vacation with his family to Disney World. Plus the winter storms had screwed up flights all over the country and I didn’t want to make a bad situation worse. So we hunkered down.
One other thing I wanted to mention about hunkering down is we needed special permission to stay longer at the Elks Lodge. Lee eventually got it but it wasn’t easy and we were acutely aware that we didn’t want to overstay our welcome. To make matters worse all the local dump stations were charging $35 – $50 a dump and our Blue Boy sprung a leak. Thankfully Lee bought another one for only $200 at Camping World (half what we spent on the original) and not only is it better designed but Lee learned that Camping World has a free dump station for Lifetime Good Sam members which we are. Between all the extra peeing from staying hydrated and the longish showers (the only thing that gave me relief some days) he was driving 25 minutes to dump every other day but he was happy to do it. He also had to wash the sheets because they were drenched in sweat which was another load. I asked the president of the Elks if they had a washer I could use because I had been sick but he seemed annoyed and said they didn’t have one. So Lee did it in our washing machine instead. My point is I guess the logistics of our lifestyle never go away…even if we are really sick, which can be a bummer sometimes when you just want to focus on getting well.
Thankfully though despite all the craziness the pain was the one thing getting better, It was good enough that one day I asked if we could take a drive to the coast since the weather was beautiful here. Turns out that with the crazy winter storms we were in the one little pocket of the US where the temperatures were really nice. Sun is good for infection so I put a heating pad in the car and we took a drive. We drove through some orange groves, down to Malibu, and then back home. The drive was mostly pain free although I only got out of the car to go to this famous little Malibu seafood shack and only ate a bit of clam chowder which was so-so. Lee liked his fish though and the the sunshine was nice.
Even Malibu has regular housesSeaside houses to the rightMansions to the leftRVs are allowed to park overnight on the Pacific Coast Highway
One weird thing about Malibu is there are beautiful larger estates across the highway from the ocean and then smaller but also elaborate homes ocean side. I checked one of the For Sale houses on the oceanside side and it was a cool $55M in case anyone is interested. As good as it was to get out the day took a lot out of me so most of the time I just slept 16 hours a day and tried to stay hydrated. I was feeling a little bit better everyday at this point and since I was starting my new job on Dec 27th I had a lot riding on getting better and soon. But more on that in the next post.
Not to leave you hanging though the CIPRO did its job and on the last day I went in and had my urine checked and it was clear, although I did ask them to do a culture just in case. I don’t want to take any risks with this. The Urgent Care doc who I had seen before seemed relieved I was better and then said it’s good you didn’t have any reaction to the CIPRO. He mentioned a couple of symptoms I did actually have but it was clear he wasn’t really listening so I just said thank you and left. Later I looked it up and the CIPRO side effects are :
nausea
vomiting
stomach pain
heartburn
diarrhea
pale skin
unusual tiredness
I had all of these but if it killed the infection it was worth it. The whole thing was really scary.
We very much appreciate your support of our blog
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes
Let me start by saying this is absolutely the best tour I have ever been on in my life. Yes, Paramount Studios is iconic and everywhere we turned we saw something from an iconic TV show or film, but it was more than that. The tour itself was several hours long, we never felt rushed, our tour guide was so amazing I gave her a $50 tip. Most importantly, “backstage” meant exactly that. Let me walk you through it!
First, we arrived at Paramount and parked across from the gate in visitor Lot A. Just seeing the gates was pretty special, and we had a short walk down to the tours building.
Right when we walked in the tour it was very exciting. We got VERY nice tour laminates and they had some memorabilia, including Oscars, the Maverick helmet, and my favorite: Star Trek. Paramount has been around for a really long time (since 1912!) and in the past it merged with Desilu studios, acquiring the Star Trek franchise. Walking in and seeing the uniforms gave me tingles. Oh, and did I mention we got to hold a real Oscar? Well, we did, and weighing 8 lbs it is heavier than you expect it to be, just like everyone says.
After the Oscar pics, we walked outside in our small group (there were 5 of us along with a guide) and went to our golf cart. It was a nice one and there was plenty of room. The VIP tour came with complimentary drinks and I will caution you to avoid coffee. Everyone who got the coffee struggled with it on the cart, but I got iced tea and it was perfect. Then we started off on our tour. I don’t really know what their pattern was (but there definitely was one, so I am just going to show you what we saw in the chunks we saw them. Our guide kept us away from the “Hot” or actively shooting areas, but we were close enough that it was possible we would see someone famous. The day we were there they were shooting the Rookie, but unfortunately no Nathan Fillion sightings. That would have been awesome! The deal is by the way if they approach you…great, otherwise just watch and don’t be a nuisance.
Our guide would stop anywhere we wanted and take a picture. We asked for this oneThis one of the Forest Gump bench she was prepared for with the box of chocolates prop
One of the other things I really liked about the tour was as we walked around the tour guide showed us iPad clips from shows filmed in these places. One interesting one was an added scene to Top Gun (the original). The preview showing had a lack of chemistry between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis so they had this scene on her “porch.” It actually was filmed in a tiny corner behind a snack area. Crazy but as soon as she showed the clip you could see it. Here’s the clip, and you can see the actual location below.
We got the see the theater where they do screenings
What struck me the most is how much of a community this lot is and how much history. Each Stage had a list of major shows and films that had filmed on it and the crew (who was actively working that day) knew each other and the tour guides. Mainly we tried to get as close to the action as possible without getting in the way and it was fun zipping around. I will say the VIP Tour has quite a bit of walking (which is a good thing!!!), just be prepared for it.
Lucy’s favorite tree she even buried her dog hereThis area was right outside Lucille Ball’s officeLucille Ball’s office
The one set we got to visit was Dr. Phil’s. This is the longest running show on the Paramount Lot and he’s got quite the setup. I wasn’t supposed to take pictures but grabbed a couple, but honestly all I could think about was how Lee made Public Access Television with a 20th (a 50th) of what Dr. Phil has. And in my opinion most of it was much better television.
One of the coolest things we did was visit the sign shop. There is a union sign shop on the property (all departments are different unions) and they make signs for both this studio and others. The person who spoke to us for a long time grew up in the trade and his father was one of the last people who hand paints signs. Today most signs are computer printed but there is still a calling for the old fashioned painting on occasion. He explained how they are required to follow up the 20% difference rule for any product they are using that isn’t licensed. The brain tricks you usually when you are just glancing at something. Let me show this as an example. Just glance at the picture below and then really look at again.
Sure if you really looked at the sign you would get it but filmmakers controls that. They decide how long a shot is or how blurry so its not like they are going to stay on the picture too long. The whole thing was super interesting and they spent a ton of time talking to us which we really appreciated.
Its not all signs sometimes its printed backdrop like this faux marble from the TV comedy Loot. We love that show and the next time we watched it we easily picked out this backdrop. Really neat.
Around this time I was getting pretty hungry but they were prepared for that. We had a nice sit down lunch in the executive dining room that had wedge salad, chicken piccata, desert, and vegetables. Seriously it was REALLY good and I had seconds. We spent some time getting to know the others in our group and the tour guide and then we headed back out. The main reason we bought the VIP tour was it included some of the props area and we headed to the backlot. First we stopped and saw all the places they shoot scenes and I have to say I was blown away. Lee could explain this better, but the buildings are designed to support all kinds of camera angles and tricks (ie: forced perspective) and every part could be used in multiple ways. I’m going to have to show you but it was pretty great, especially with Lee there to explain everything. The tour guide was good but Lee knows a lot and even the tour guide seemed impressed. When I explained to the other guys in the party Lee watched movies like they watched sports they seemed to get it. He wasn’t showing off he was just really excited to be in his element.
My favorite thing for some reason was this tiny skyscraper. I don’t know why but I guess they shot these scenes in real downtowns (and maybe sometimes they do) but I loved this. Movies is magic.
After the back lot we went into the film restoration area. Paramount is working on digitizing all its old film and we saw reels for Pulp Fiction, Star Trek, and many other shows. This is extremely important work for the film industry because film does disintegrate over time, but certainly not as flashy as some of the other trades.
”
This mummy cracked Lee up
On the second floor above the film transfer there were some props. I wish I could describe how haphazard it all seemed and I am sure there is a method to their madness but I didn’t get it. It’s important to note we only saw a very small portion of the props/costume collection but I really appreciated one person’s office that had tons of jewelry. Her job was to try and match the jewelry to the movie which in the case of some of the older black and whites is no small feat. The whole thing was really cool and being that close to so many props was pretty amazing. No fancy glass cases here or museum quality lighting just stuff everywhere with simple signs to say what it is. These aren’t “top tier” items by the way those do go into museums (like the Smithsonian) or collections but cool enough for me.
The jewelry collection was amazing. What a cool job figuring out what jewelry was in what movie(s). The reused a lot of this stuff.Pink Ladies wowThis headdress was in remarkable good shapeAnd they determined it was in this movieThis Tony Shalhoub Galaxy Quest outfit was sooo great!!And yes you have seen this costume a million times BUT this was the OG one of the ones actually worn in the movie
After the costume/prop area I thought we were done but there was more to see. Next stop is the water tank/parking lot. OK I don’t even know how to explain this but there is a section of parking lot that slopes and has concrete sides. At one end there is a giant sign that can be painted to look like the horizon. This water area is 4-1/2 feet deep and take a day to fill and a day to drain. The parting of the red sea scene in the 10 commandments was filmed here but they also filmed the Whale scene in Star Trek Voyage Home as well. All I can say is amazing.
The blue are the “pool” walls
A few last things. Seriously this tour wiped me out but in a totally good way. We went into a huge warehouse with loads of gear which Lee really loved. Again everything is union so its not like you can just get a job but I think he would be in heaven if he could work someplace like this. The warehouse is not only for Paramount but also the other studios in the area.
Our last thing was a prop room with lots of large props. The best thing about this for me was they had a Star Trek Turbo lift and I actually got tears in my eyes when I stood in it. The tour guide was very sweet about my rush of emotion but for me that was as a very special moment.
Don’t ask me what this pose was I was giddy with excitement.
My advice is if you are ever in this area do the Paramount Tour AND pay the extra for the VIP version. It is so very worth it. Holding an Oscar, seeing props, seeing the backstage lots, and a wonderful tour guide and lunch. Definitely best tour I have ever been on in my life. Of any kind.
We very much appreciate your support of our blog
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes
Finally we were on our way to Los Angeles, which is a long time dream of Lee’s. Personally I have been to every major city in the US, but have avoided LA because frankly it really intimidates me. When we started looking for a place to stay, I realized LA is really a collection of cities and I chose an Elks Club in Burbank as a place to start and get acclimated. Thankfully this turned out to a a good choice and the allowed us to book for a full two weeks. I was going on vacation Dec 15th so we would have plenty of time to explore and decide if we wanted to stay in a different place.
Only 5 sites Sites are tightBig storage facility between us and the road which was nice
This Elks club has a very busy bar and since it was the holidays they were also having lots of events. One night they had a motorcycle club toy drive and Lee went out to ask someone to turn their music down and it was Robert Patrick (from T2 and 1923). He was a really nice guy. Actually that’s the weirdest thing about being here, a lot of the local houses have been used in TV and movies and as you are driving around EVERYTHING looks familiar but you can’t quite put you finger on it. We went on a couple of car rides specifically looking for a few places but if we hadn’t known what we were looking for we probably would have passed it by. Let me show you some examples.
Happy Days House
Young Sheldon HouseAnd my favorite the Brady Bunch House
You have to understand that with the exception of the Brady Bunch house people, regular people live in these houses and they are ALL in regular neighborhoods. They are really not hard to find and its obvious from the annoyed neighbor stares they are used to the traffic. We tried to be as unobtrusive as possible but I can see how it would get old.
In addition to the smaller houses there are lots of 1960’s (or older) iconic buildings that you have again seen in things. In particular I wanted to see an old hotel from the show Angel and was pretty excited when we found it. It’s an historic place but also people live there.
In addition to the buildings the streets themselves are iconic. I started singing reflexively when we saw the sign for Santa Monica Blvd …”and the sun comes up on the Santa Monica Blvd.” And we drove on Mulholland Drive (super twisty turney) where we even saw an absolutely beautiful and health coyote.
Santa Monica BlvdThis view has been in many, many TV shows and movies
It was fun checking things out, but my major complaint was the air quality. It was overcast and smelled faintly of exhaust most place we went, which was kind of a bummer. Even the day we drove Jack to Huntington Beach (one of the few dog beaches in the area) it was hazy, which honestly I don’t care for. And of course the traffic is pretty nuts. 45 minutes to go 12 miles nuts, but we learned and by driving during non peak hours were largely able to avoid the worst of it.
Speaking of the dog beach it was really nice and all the dogs were very friendly. This isn’t a super dog friendly town so it was nice for Jack to get out and run a little. I did find it odd that the tankers were all off in the distance, plus I missed the clear blue water you see further north. Everything looked slightly grey.
There was one large section (about 100 yards) dogs were allowed on
Next up we tour Paramount which is probably the best tour I have ever been on in my life.
We very much appreciate your support of our blog
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes
It’s pretty common that when we get to a new area people who have been here before reach out and give us recommendations. Several people recommended the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway so we immediately added it to our list. A variety of factors, including dense smog, stopped us from going until our very last day but since the tickets can be exchanged for different days and times that worked out OK.
Essentially the Tramway is an 11 minute 2-1/2 mile round trip from the valley station (2,643 feet) to the Mountain Station (8,516 feet). The weather change is extreme and the scenery as well going from desert temperatures to alpine conditions with some snow in the winter. Although this is a real treat for the locals, we have seen lots of snow in Yellowstone, but Lee was interested in the tram and I thought it was worth a trip. Plus we paid a little extra and included a buffet style dinner at the cafe at the top. Plus the Mount San Jacinto State Park is at the top and we heard the hiking trails are pretty nice.
Unfortunately we ended up arriving a little on the late side and since the trams were running every 12 minutes or so didn’t make it onto one until 4pm. We didn’t account for the time it would take to park and then get the bus to the base station and all that took about 30 extra minutes.
The busses have no windows and its chilly even at base camp so be preparedSanta was up top earlier in the day so it was a little extra crowded
Each tram can hold up to 80 people but thankfully going up it was probably half of that. We got a nice spot by the window and adjusted pretty quickly to the rotating floor (think Disney ride) which Lee wasn’t a fan of. I liked the rotating because you got to see a little of everything but when you pass a tower the tram swings. They do a nice job of letting you know when this is coming, but the swinging sensation that high up was pretty unsettling for me so I will apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures. I was fighting a lot of sensations when I took them.
The women who runs the tram was in a glass box. That was interesting
On the way up the tram operator (who was excellent) talked to us and there was a nice recorded message about how this was built. All in all it was much better than I expected and when we reached the top it was pretty cool. It was crazy windy though which ruled out hiking for us, but we went outside and saw all the different views and took pictures. It was 40 degrees and the wind had a serious bite so I would recommend a hat and gloves which we didn’t bring.
This sign cracked me up because I saw people in heels up there and thought it was nuts
The sunset was very pretty but when we went inside those areas were packed. We got in line for our buffet which started at 4:30 but they didn’t actually open until 4:45. This was the most disappointing part of the experience because the food was fine but the people setting up the line were moving at a snail’s pace and had an attitude that we were waiting. The food was fine though and we found a decent seat in the corner to watch the lights down in the valley.
All in all it was OK until we had to go back down. Going down in the dark in a totally full car was way worse than going up and unfortunately we were stuck in the middle. They did play some upbeat music which I appreciated but there was a rowdy group in our car (they had obviously partaken of the bar up top) and every time we passed a tower and dipped they made a ton of noise. For me it was incredibly unpleasant and my nerves were pretty raw when we made it to the bottom. I am not saying you shouldn’t try it if you visit Palm Springs but be honest with yourself about heights and tight spaces.
Huge line to go downBest picture I could get
We very much appreciate your support of our blog
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes
I know its been awhile since we have posted a budget, but when Lee was working Yellowstone between the work and all the things we were doing putting the budget numbers in the spreadsheet fell off the list of important things to do. Now he has to go back and play catchup though because I need the info for both my annual budget review and our taxes so he completed November. I am going to post this one, but not go back to the other ones although all of the information will be available on the annual summary coming soon. I know many of you read these budgets religiously but the monthly versions are a bit of a chore.
I do however promise that the annual information will continue to be comprehensive and for those of you who are researching the lifestyle will show patterns of spend. For those of you who are new to the budget I am sure you are going to look at the total and think I can’t afford this. Keep in mind I am making really good money right now (and Lee is working as well) so we are still spending within our means. If you are interested in what this lifestyle looks like on a smaller budget check out the other years budget on our Budgets Page.
Inflation is hitting us just like other people and fuel in particular has been a killer with prices well over over $5 a gallon. Campground fees have also gone up and although we kept it reasonable when staying in Nevada State Parks, Las Vegas was around $50 a night. Groceries were high because we were in remote Nevada and food prices were definitely crazy. $8 for for an 18 pack of eggs high and it was either pay the prices or drive 1-1/2 hours to the nearest Walmart.
Home repair costs were around getting the bike rack made. We also got hit with $1900 in tire replacement so it was a perfect storm of inflation, maintenance issues, etc. As a side note the $1000 in dining out was the week I spent with my Mom eating our way through LAs Vegas and it was worth every penny 🙂
This is a high month even for us, but since we look at our spending more on an annual basis now rather than month to month the real test will be how the year turned out. I would love to say we are making more and banking more but aside from increased 401K and HSA contributions that’s really not the case. Next month we are headed to LA and definitely going to spend some money but again we can afford it and are going to enjoy this time we have exploring new areas.
We very much appreciate your support of our blog
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes
When you become part of the full time RV community you start hearing about places to visit that you have never heard of before. I think of these places as part of the fulltime RV experience especially because its unlikely I would have even heard of them or visited if we hadn’t started this lifestyle. The desert sculptures in Borrego Springs was definitely on that list ever since we learned about it from fellow RV Dreamers Steve and Dianne when we first visited Quartzsite. Even though it was over an hour drive to get there from Indio we knew we had to go so we headed out on Saturday.
To be honest I didn’t know much and we only had some general directions but thanks to our Roadside America app we had coordinates. As we started out it was just desert with the occasional patch of palm trees and surprisingly a strong smell of pot along the road we took. We saw lots of greenhouses off the road and I assume they were marijuana growing facilities although it was somewhat hard to tell.
Next we hit BLM area and eventually the Anza-Borrego State Park. There were TONS and I mean hundreds and hundreds of RV’s on the BLM land and most were ATVing. I don’t know much about ATV’s but this was obviously a popular area and it was clear why when we saw all of the trails. There also was very strong cell coverage despite being in the middle of nowhere and we were amazed at the big group gatherings we saw kind of everywhere. It wasn’t quite as busy as Quartzsite but it was close so if you’re into ATVing and don’t know much about this area I would definitely look it up.
Loved this monument to Peg Leg SmithThe story is he had a gold mine in the area and many treasure hunters have looked for it tBeautiful purple flowers bloooming in the desert
I want to warn you though the drive was long and services minimal so make sure you gas up and have water and snacks before you go. Finally we reached the desert metal statues and wow were they incredible. The main sea serpent (which crosses a road and is huge) is the big draw but there are many newer statues strewn along the desert. There is no clear path or map so we just drove from one to the next and had a marvelous time. It’s completely free and incredibly amazing and we are so glad that we went.
The detail on the serpent was amazing but there were others that were smaller but equally detailed. In particular the statues with curved pieces of metal to simulate hair were amazing.
This isn’t an optical effect the T-Rex was that bigAmazing detailJack was a little freaked out by some of themJack growled at this pig he thought it was real
After seeing the sculptures we went into Borrego Springs which is a great little town. It’s the kind of place I would love to live if it wasn’t so remote. We had a nice lunch and went into several of the shops. There were many sculptures that you could purchase but unfortunately most of them were too big for us. I especially enjoyed Borrego Outfitters that had a little bit of everything and highly recommend going in if you are in the area.
Yummy lunch
On the way back to Indio Lee wanted to stop at the Salton Sea and I was up for it. We had a hard time finding a public access point but eventually found our way to the pier. According to Wikipedia, “The current lake was formed from an inflow of water from the Colorado River in 1905. Beginning in 1900, an irrigation canal was dug from the Colorado River to the old Alamo River channel to provide water to the Imperial Valley for farming… a series of cuts were made in the bank of the Colorado River to further increase the water flow.”
Unfortunately as the Colorado River has dried up so has the sea, and although it was a popular resort destination in the past now it is a shell of itself. We even talked to a woman who bought a house on what was then the shore and took a huge loss when she sold it. The area also smells pretty strongly of fish because the water is so shallow and the community has started a big planting initiative to reclaim the dried lake bed and stop sandstorms. It’s not all negative though because the area is great for para biking and we saw at least 8 different people flying their motorized carts over the sand and lake.
Super cool watching these guys
Borrego Springs definitely lived up to its press and if you would like information on more of those places we never would have seen if we weren’t fulltime RVers please see some of my previous posts below in no particular order.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes
As we travel the country, I am always excited to visit a place that I have heard about but never seen. Palm Springs was definitely in that group for me because it is a popular retirement destination and I am always curious if that might be a place we would ultimately settle. We have driven past Palm Springs and seen the many windmills but that views doesn’t come close to describing this area. Actually once we got off the highway we haven’t seen a windmill and instead have been in a lush desert oasis.
Palm Springs is actually a series of small towns that run along the mountains. Each one has it’s own vibe but they also share the Coachella Valley identity. There is money in this area (we saw two different people driving Rolls Royces) but there are also working class families especially in Indio and Coachella.
After looking at the options we decided to stay at the Elks Lodge in Indio. It has over 50 sites with 30 amp, water, and an onsite dump station. It also has a great restaurant open daily and a large lodge with a game room. The $25 a night was MUCH more palatable than the $60+ for RV parks and since Lee got an unexpected work trip out of town I wanted a place to stay that was affordable and safe. The Elks definitely fit the bill.
There is a great farmers stand around the cornerAnd we found a mobile groomer to come clean up Jack
We weren’t really sure how to explore the area, so ultimately started at Palm Springs and worked our way down on Palm Canyon Drive. It turns out this is a cool route to take as it goes along the mountains and the original downtown of Palm Springs. The downtown is a great mix of original 60’s buildings and some newer developments definitely designed to capture an Urban Living crowd. The people we saw were a mixed age group and it was hard to tell if they lived here or were vacationing.
I also recommend driving by The Gardens in El Paseo which has very high end shops including Tiffany and Gucci. This area was definitely wealthy with lots of country clubs and high end car dealerships. One thing I thought was odd was those dealerships were largely packed with vehicles. We had seen barren car lots all over the country but these were practically pre-COVID full. Draw whatever conclusion you want from that 🙂
Another great stop along the road was the Palm Springs Art Museum. We didn’t go inside but did look at the outside art installations including a super coup giant statue of Marilyn Monroe.
The feet were amazingAnd I loved how they handled the backOutside installtionThis explains it They had stars for the people who had donated to the museumLoved this piece
High on my list of things to see was a visit to the Desert Memorial Park to see Frank Sinatra’s and Sonny Bono’s graves. Lee is a huge Sinatra fan and I really wanted to see Sonny Bono’s so off we went. Turned out both sites we relatively unassuming so it took awhile to find them, but we saw both and paid our respects. I really loved the simple epitaphs on both of them.
Beautiful treesSuch a simple gravestone for a man with such a huge impactLoved loved the epitaph “And The Best Goes on” perfect!
Another fun thing to do in this area is visit a Date Farm and get a date shake. There aren’t as many of these open to the public as I hoped so we visited Shields Date Farm. Turned out this was a great choice as it had a cool gift shop, restaurant, and garden. The dates shakes were yummy (tasted slightly nutty) and we walked in the free gardens as well. The gardens had all kinds of local plant life along with statues showing the life of Jesus along the way. It was all very well done and absolutely worth a visit if you are in the area.
This sign got my attention But the movie was pretty tame 🙂$7.95 was a good deal if you included seeing the gardensNice outdoor restaurantBirth of JesusJesus talking to scholarsJesus at the wellBeautiful mesquite treesFresh lemon trees are everywhere here and we even have a couple out the Elks lodge we can pick from. I am making tons of lemon recipes !Look for this sign to start the walk in the right placeLoved the willow treesYummy and I don’t like dates
In particular I liked the information about the date palms. Turns out there are males and females. All the males do is pollinate and one can cover around 50 females. The females are broken into multiple limbs which are pretty cool. They also had examples of date ladders which were moved as the trees grew taller. Nowadays cherry pickers are used.
I also enjoyed the flower section. It’s nice to see blooms in December. Again they focused on plants that can handle the desert heat which we learned can reach 120 in the summer. YIKES!! The weather is fantastic in the winter though and I can see why people snowbird here.
Beautiful My favorite statue of Jesus. A little bird landed on his head while we were there.
I really like the area although the summer heat is definitely to extreme for me to settle here. Next up a trip to Borrego Springs!
Next up we head south of Joshua Tree to explore Palm Springs and Coachella Valley.
We very much appreciate your support of our blog
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes
Camper Chronicles 