Sticky Fingers at Rodeo Drive


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North America » United States » California
July 11th 2012
Published: July 30th 2012
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So up again at 6am after a restful sleep clinging onto the side of the bed to stop me from rolling into the middle of the bed at the Hollywood Sunset Travelodge (a clichéd motel set up) we decide we might have time to drive on Mulholland Drive for a bit before going to Rodeo Drive and then head out of LA to Utah for the big drive. We had a quick bite at the basic continental breakfast buffet and found out I need a password to get the wifi going. So I quickly had time to send a quick email before we pocketed a cinnamon cheese pastry and headed off for Rodeo Drive. We found it without any problems and found a parking spot right on the actual street because nothing was open yet. It seems pretty standard here that the shops open at that time. We took some silly shots like me holding out my ring finger at Tiffanies. My dog (teddy) hanging out my hand bag and the kids putting their fingers all over the shop windows. We also saw the Beverly Hills Wiltshire which is at the end of the drive. We actually saw some clichéd rich people dressed to the nines carrying their small dogs in their handbags too! We over took the right turn for Mulholland Drive, so missed out on the film star mansions, but still managed to see some pretty nice homes in Beverley Hills whilst getting a little lost. We parked in someone’s house were we got a great view of LA and of other nice homes. We decided if we keep on heading down the hill then we would eventually get back onto Sunset Blvd. But it was a dead end and to go past the house we parked at for the view and discovered that the owner had returned. Lucky for us we weren’t scunted. But everyone so nice here that once discovering that we were Australians, would probably invite us in for coffee. Any way time was getting away from us and by about 10am we commence the long journey out of LA. It took about two hours of driving to hit the eastern city limits. We took one wrong exit in Pasadena somewhere and I though I was going to cry as it was at one of those complicated spaghetti intersections and I didn’t have google maps for that area. Serves my self right for bring too tight to pay $10 a day for a GPS. Anyway, miraculously Brendan managed to find our way back on track no problems at all. To this day I don’t know how he managed it as I lost all bearing after that wrong turn. As we headed past Bakersfield it got hotter and hotter. There were still 4 lane highways all the way to Bakersfield despite the obvious lack of population. Just goes to prove how popular Vegas is I suppose. The proliferation of outlet shops along the way with an obvious lack of customers was incredible. If we weren’t in such a hurry, I could spend hours in them. We stopped at a Chevron gas station along the way and was pissed off that they wouldn’t accept my ANZ travel card and hoped it wouldn’t be a sign of things to come otherwise this trip would cost a fortune in conversion fees. We made our lunch on a square metre of grass we managed to find next the servo (there is an obvious lack of picnic areas or public parks in this country). It was already over 40 degrees. And only got hotter as the day wore on.

The second we got over the Nevada border there were already ostentatious casino signs and casinos for those who could not ait until they got to Vegas. None of us could hardly stay awake, so we got a coffee at Mc Donald’s despite the heat. The drive approaching Utah was spectacular as there were thunderstorm clouds forming over the amazing looking mountains. At least they looked great to me after all of that featureless desert.

Didn’t get in until 8.30pm local time, it was 7.30 Californian and Arizonian time but we lost an hour with Mountain time. By the time we found a place to eat we didn’t get to bed until 10.30pm. Our 1st experience of eating out for dinner was awesome. The drinks were served up in litre glass jars and I could even drink a quarter of it. Of course Brendan thought it was great and I thought it was overkill and a complete waste of resources. The nachos were the best I’ve ever tasted. Everything from the guacamole, salsa etc. was made from scratch. What a huge day we’re so shattered. The room at The Bumbleberry Inn was beautiful.

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