Los Angeles - Back from my trip. Heres what we did

Thanks for all the help everyone.
I just wanted to give a brief trip report.

Flew in Thursday night and went to the Renaissance Los Angeles Airport.
Nice hotel. Got a room on the lounge level (Aveda products!)
Ate in the lounge Friday morning, pretty nice spread there. Friendly staff.

Started the drive out to Vegas around 11:30, traffic was not too bad.
LONG drive...

Came back from Vegas on Tuesday.
Crazy drive back...about 70 miles away from LA on I-15, the clouds were so low, we were driving INSIDE the cloud. I could barely see in front of me!! (and the people were still speeding!!)

Let me try attaching a picture:
<img src = "http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/sard23/Travel/IMG_1347.jpg">

<img src = "http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/sard23/Travel/IMG_1359.jpg">

Went to the Residence Inn Burbank Downtown. Nice staff, room was good too.

Drove out to Hollywood/Highland and looked around. Still a lot of tourists out there at night.

Next day went to the Hilton Universal. Room was not ready yet at 11am, but the front staff person did some extra work and got us the room.

Walked over to Citywalk and checked out the stores (loved the comic store)
Then Hollywood/Highland again to take pictures of some "stars" I wanted.
Then La Brea Tar Pits, it was not exactly what I expected. Just 1 pit and a museum, I thought there would be a bunch of pits with bones sticking out, etc...
Then we went to Rodeo Drive and walked the street, saw the Bugatti in front of Bijion.
Then drove out to Newport Beach for dinner with my wife's cousin.
Took almost 2 hours!!!!!!
Heck, took almost 45 minutes to get from Rodeo drive to the highway!!
On the way back, took about 50 minutes total.

Thursday:
Drove up Mulholland to the dog park and the overlook above it for the Hollywood sign.
Then drove out to Griffith Observatory. I really liked the Observatory, wished we stayed there longer for the shows. I love the science stuff.
Then we drove out to Venice and walked around a bit, then drove to Santa Monica. Walked to the carnival on the pier, then had dinner in Santa Monica.
Then back to the hotel.

Couple of observations:
1. I thought out of the 3 locations I went to for the Hollywood Sign (Mulholland dog park, Hollywood/highland, Griffith Observatory) - Mulholland dog park (well a little above it) had the best view.
2. LA drivers speed a bit too much.
In my opinion, Left lane is for passing, you want to speed, go in the left lane. I dont mind speeding, I was averaging 85-90 on the drive from Vegas-LA...BUT, if I am in the right lane (I was for the foggy part because I couldnt see) then DON'T drive up my tail pipe.
Go to the freaking middle or left lane.
3. They also sped way too much on Mulholland. The turns were sharp and the lanes were narrow, all it would take is a tourist to misjudge a turn and end up in on coming traffic. So keeping that in mind, I took it a bit slower on Mulholland, so if you were behind me, my bad.

Wished we had another day so I could have gone to Disneyland. But overall it was fun.

Thanks for all the help.

So YOU were the one causing massive backup in the canyons. Just kidding...

The locals are so familiar with the blind curves on Mulholland and other canyon roads, some of us can do it with our eyes closed. We can get a bit impaitent when out of towners slow down at every turn. Glad you enjoyed your trip!

yeah, I was telling my wife - "It must suck to live in the Hills"

because the locals are familiar with the turns, but the out of town people are not, so we drive it much slower.

And since Mulholland is such a tourist destination, there must be a ton of out of towners on the roads slowing the locals down

Sounds like you had a good time :-)

I totally missed the part in the planning where you were going from Beverly Hills to Newport Beach - in the afternoon on a weekday. Whoa!

it wasnt part of the plan originally, it was more like:
"my cousin is there, so if we have time we should have dinner with her"

of course, since its the wife's cousin, got to make time.

Glad you enjoyed your trip.

I agree with you on the tourists holding up traffic though. :) I don't like it when folks clog up PCH as it goes west towards Malibu. PCH should be driven at 60! And yes, LA drivers do tailgate to urge slower drivers to go faster, or move out of the way.

Didn't you have ambitions to see several national parks? Did that just become too complicated? Anyways, sounds like you had a good trip. What happened in vegas?

Glad you enjoyed your trip.

I agree with you on the tourists holding up traffic though. :) I don't like it when folks clog up PCH as it goes west towards Malibu. PCH should be driven at 60! And yes, LA drivers do tailgate to urge slower drivers to go faster, or move out of the way.

On major, but two-lane,highways in South Africa, drivers will come up right behind you and flash their lights. You're supposed to pull over, into the emergency lane, as you keep going. On the plus side, once you do that, the driver who passed you will typically flash their lights (well, tail lights to you at this point) as a way of saying thanks. I was once in Belgium with a driver (from my job) who kept tailgating cars at high rates of speed. When I cautioned him about this, he looked at me and said, "They could pull over." We may all have died, but sometimes it's the principle of the thing.

2. LA drivers speed a bit too much.
In my opinion, Left lane is for passing, you want to speed, go in the left lane. I dont mind speeding, I was averaging 85-90 on the drive from Vegas-LA...BUT, if I am in the right lane (I was for the foggy part because I couldnt see) then DON'T drive up my tail pipe.
Go to the freaking middle or left lane.

pffffft. waaay to much traffic to have a "passing lane" like other parts of the country- we need all of them, and then some, for driving in.

>>FlyMeToTheLooneyBin
And yes, LA drivers do tailgate to urge slower drivers to go faster, or move out of the way.
>>

I have no issue with that on highways or 2 lane roads.
But when I was driving in the cloud/fog, I was in the right most lane.
And Mulholland...I had no choice, it was 1 lane only, I would have loved it if I could have pulled over and let the people pass me.


>>azlefty
Didn't you have ambitions to see several national parks? Did that just become too complicated? Anyways, sounds like you had a good trip. What happened in vegas?
>>

First day in Vegas, we walked around a bit.
2nd day - Zion (we did the Emerald Pool - upper and lower hike and that other hike that lead off from the Emerald pool and kind of went by the river)
3rd - walked around to the hotels then watched O. (should have watched Le Reve instead I think)
4th - Ethel M Chocolate Factory (got there too early, they weren't making chocolate yet), Hoover Dam (no tours at all today, boo!), Valley of Fire (they were fixing some of the roads, so some were closed), Penn & Teller at night

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice and info they gave me!

>>FlyMeToTheLooneyBin
And yes, LA drivers do tailgate to urge slower drivers to go faster, or move out of the way.
>>

I have no issue with that on highways or 2 lane roads.
But when I was driving in the cloud/fog, I was in the right most lane.
And Mulholland...I had no choice, it was 1 lane only, I would have loved it if I could have pulled over and let the people pass me.


Heh. :)

I understand where you're coming from, but just reinforcing what others have said about the locals knowing the roads and curves so well that they tend to move at higher speeds. These same people probably drive slow when in unfamiliar waters in other cities.

(And I am one of them. Just today, I was inadvertently tailgating a car going 50 on PCH. :D)