Yesterday I turned the big 2-6! A big THANK YOU to everyone who called, texted, and wished me love on Facebook. It was definitely an awesomely unique birthday.
I woke up early to open presents and eat cinnamon rolls with Tim.
He got us matching slippers!
I also loved getting cookie dough from across the US...
And several other presents from around the world. I don't want to bore you with several photos, but just know that I loved EVERY single thing I got! :-)
I'm not an "early-to-rise" type of person, but today it was important because we were headed to Burbank, CA. Our first stop was Bob's Big Boy Burgers for lunch!
We both thought Big Boy would be much larger, but then again, our only introduction of him was from Austin Powers where Dr. Evil turns him into a rocket.
We had to eat quickly (TRAFFIC IN LA SUUUUUUCKS) because the real treat was the Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour!
In a group of 12, the tour guide took us on a backstage tour of the 110(ish) acre lot of Warner Brothers Studio. Here we are on NY Street...
Right behind us was Dr. Ross's (George Clooney) house from
ER, where we also learned a neat trick about curb height vs. Taxi height...Hollywood men are not tall.
Then the tour guide explained how every acre of the lot is used for filming...even this parking lot. She pointed out the
ER Helipad "H" (every helicopter scene is filmed on the ground due to wind drafts and ease/safety) and reminded everyone of the mountains in
M*A*S*H, which are actually the Hollywood Hills.
We found the Chicago "L" train trestle (which is made completely of wood) and the
ER emergency bay...
Obviously, all of these places have been used for other movies and TV shows, but those are the ones I can remember!
**We also went down the Paris street, which was used in
Casablanca!**
Oh, and for all you
West Wing fans, here's the Embassy. Yes, this exterior was used for EVERY embassy in that show...they would just change the flags. :-)
Next up was "Smalltown USA!" I was so excited to visit Stars Hollow (
Gilmore Girls) & Bluebell, AL (
Hart of Dixie) & Rosewood (
Pretty Little Liars), which were/are all filmed in this area. The guide told us that the day before, two shows (HofD & PLL) had been filming simultaneously on this lot.
I'm standing on Lorelei's (GG) front porch! It's also Spencer's porch from PLL...
Oh, and all of the houses have double fronts, so they can film from multiple sides and trick the audience.
**Smalltown, USA was also used in the newest Muppet movie and The Music Man.**
After visiting Smalltown, USA, we headed inside to The Big Bang Theory set! We had to lock up our cameras before entering, because even though they film at WB, CBS owns all of the property inside the sound stage. We also had to lock up our cameras when we visited the WB museum. It was chock full of costumes from the 1940s to the present. The entire second floor was dedicated to Harry Potter, which was great, but once you've been to the Harry Potter studio tour in Leavensden, UK...well, it's kind of a let down.
However, the guide did let us take pictures on the only remaining set from a departed TV show...'Central Perk' from Friends!
And because it was my birthday, she let me play Phoebe's guitar...I may have hummed a few notes of
Smelly Cat...
We also got to keep our cameras for the auto museum. Tim, who is usually so blasé about this stuff was like "Get a picture of
General Lee for me!"
Next up, we drove through some of the office areas...here's Clint Eastwood's production company.
And that's Ellen Degeneres' parking spot...she drives a Porche.
We also got to visit the set of Ellen's talk show! It was pretty amazing, considering it takes up THREE sound stages!
Here's proof we were there:
This was the end of the tour, but we couldn't leave without one final picture of the WB water tower...
I was hopeful that our drive home would be better than our drive to Burbank...that was wishful thinking. It still took us a little over three hours, in traffic, to get back to SanD. Near La Jolla we spotted this...
We
had to be home before 8:00pm, because that was when the store bakery closed where Tim had ordered my cake. I love birthday cake. I especially love a chocolate cake, raspberry filling with white icing. Does that look like white icing...
No, that's a double fudge chocolate cake. What gives? First of all, Tim did an EXCELLENT job of planning for my birthday. He DID order the right cake. The bakery, however, never made it. When we got to the counter, the cake was no where to be found. I was so sad. The manager was called over, they searched some more and nothing. The manager offered us a refund and a replacement cake AND ice cream. We went to the ice cream aisle while my name was being scrolled on my new cake and also picked up some pizzas for dinner, which we had every intention of paying for, but the manager also comped those for us. It was hard to be upset after the manager was so apologetic and generous about the whole situation.
We spent the evening watching a bad chick flick and the Olympics! Perfection. :-)
