Vacation Was a Long Yet Relaxing Week

As I previously posted I was on vacation last week and it was definitely both long and relaxing. I guess that sounds kind of confusing, but I decided to do a write up of my entire vacation write here so I hope you enjoy.

Day 1 - Sunday May 13th
We had to catch a 7:25 flight out of Kansas City that morning and since we were both up late the night before I think I actually got about 1.5 hours of sleep before we had to get up. Once we got in to LAX we hopped on the shuttle to pick up our rental car from Budget. Now this is where I made the best investment on my entire vacation. Budget was offering Garmin GPS System to rent for $10.95 a day and I decided to do it as I really did not care to be lost in Los Angeles. I can tell you right now it was the best investment I made as I didn’t get lost once out there and I’m so impressed with them that I plan on getting a Garmin GPS System for myself down the road.

Once we got to the hotel in Irvine we were both pretty tired due to lack of sleep and the 2 hour time change, so we decided to lay down for awhile before dinner. We decided to try a restaurant called El Torito Grill for supper and it was some of the best Mexican food that I’ve had in a long time. After dinner we decided to check out South Coast Plaza for some shopping and of course my wife found another purse that she wanted.

Day 2 - Monday May 14 - Universal Studios Hollywood
On Monday we spent the day at Universal Studios Hollywood, it was quite a ways from our hotel but the Garmin GPS System got us there without any problems. This is the first time that either of us had been here and and we both really enjoyed it as we spent the entire day at the park, as it had a lot of great attractions and neat things to do and see. I posted some photos of some of my favorite parts of the park below.

Before you enter the park they have a city walk with some great shopping and food options.

Below is a photo of the set for the Waterworld show from the movie Waterworld. This was the best show at Universal studios and all of the actors did a fantastic show and the special effects were great as well.

The next photo of the cabin used from the John Candy movie The Great Outdoors was a highlight for me because I have been a big fan of this movie for a very long time.

If you want to see some more photos from my visit, I will post some more to my flickr gallery later in the week. Well that about wrapped up the day at Universal Studios Hollywood and the only thing I can recommend is if you go be sure to get there early because there is quite a bit of stuff to do and see in the park.

Day 3 - Tuesday May 15 - Our 3 Year Anniversary & Laguna Beach

This was our 3 year wedding anniversary and we decided to just take it easy for the day and head to Laguna Beach to just relax on the beach and enjoy ourselves. The beach was great, but the water was extremely cold, but that didn’t stop me from getting in! We really didn’t do much other than hang out on the beach and take a drive down the coast line and we went to dinner to celebrate that night, but it was nice to just relax. One thing I can say is that Laguna Beach is definitely a beautiful place and some of the beach homes that I saw were awesome. I posted some more photos below.

Day 4 - Wednesday May 16 - The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
When we were at a Universal Studios on Monday I got ahold of some guaranteed tickets to the Jay Leno show. We headed to the NBC Studios in Burbank and waited in line to see the show. Guests on the show were Ricki Lake, Gretchen Wilson, and some baker lady. Unfortunately they are very strict about cameras at The Tonight Show so I wasn’t able to get any photos, but it was definitely a cool experience to say that you got to go see The Tonight Show.

After the show was over we took a drive down Sunset Strip through Hollywood and Beverly Hills and then went to dinner and headed back to the hotel. Here are some more photos from the drive through downtown LA and Hollywood.

This is a cool photo of the Los Angeles skyline at sunset.

I’ve seen this Capitol Records building in a lot of movies so I thought I would get a shot of it.

Day 5 - Thursday May 17 - Time to Head Home
Well it was now time to head home and the worst part about this is our flight left Los Angeles at 1:00 and because of a 4 hour layover in Salt Lake City we didn’t get in until about midnight. Needless to say I was more than ready to get off the plane.

Overall the vacation was great and I had a great time with my wife and it was definitely a much needed relaxing time and I’m looking forward to my next vacation as well.