August Visitors! Part 3

Laurie's visit wasn't over yet! On her 5th day, we headed north to Anaheim to visit the Happiest Place on Earth.

We were lucky enough to meet up with Laurie and Tim's cousin, Christina and her boyfriend.

I had to get back to San Diego for an event that evening, so we sweet-talked the ride operator at Splash Mountain to allow all of us to go together. (We had different FastPass times.)

It all worked out wonderfully, because Laurie got to spend the rest of the day and the next morning with her cousin and then they all drove back down to San Diego for a visit.

We ended up going on the SEAL tour, a San Diego version of the "Duck" tour. While waiting our turn to get in the water, this giant bird was hanging out on the boat next to us. I don't think he ever left his perch.

 Group shot!

 They should really call it a Sea Lion tour, because we saw a ton of them!

 And I couldn't pass up an opportunity to wave to Tim at work. :-)

Simon and Christina stayed through dinner (so they could see Tim) and then headed back North. The next day was Laurie's last with us, but she had an evening flight, so the two of us took a tour of Balboa park...

It has a lot more hills than we expected!

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August Visitors! Part 2

Sunday night, I found a Groupon deal for a 2-hour GoCar rental around San Diego. Laurie and I thought it sounded like fun, so we bought one and planned our Monday around it. The rental place was in Little Italy, so the Trolley was the best transportation option. Unfortunately, I didn't realize the Little Italy stop is under construction, so we had to backtrack a bit from the "next" stop on the line. Whoops!

After grabbing lunch - we found an amazing deli that offered your choice of four salads - we headed to the rental place for paperwork and our orientation.

 Here our view of the street from the car. We were very close to the ground and much smaller than everyone else, but all of our spectators seemed to love our little car. We got several honks, waves, and giggles from passersby.

Our route - we were headed to Point Loma with help from our GPS, who we named Pamela. Pamela  didn't always give early warning for turns.

 Along the route, we drove through Shelter Island, where they have a bell gifted from San Diego's sister city - Yokohama, Japan! We've been there! :-)

Our route took us all the way to the south-western most point of the continental US - Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma. Point Loma is actually mostly owned by the military and there are several cemeteries...

and some experimental labs. This is a sonar-type lab. The actual lab is suspended above the water, so that the water isn't disturbed...or so the GPS tour guide told us...we think it's more likely that this is where they keep the mermaids! ;-)

 Finally we made it to the Cabrillo National Monument...

and the Point Loma lighthouse.

We spent about 30 minutes walking around and learning about the lighthouse and the San Diego Bay. It was really interesting and the view was amazing! Since we only had the GoCar for a few hours, it was back on the road to continue our tour. Here's Laurie driving (you can see how small it is compared to the other cars)...

 And here I am putting the car in reverse - a.k.a. pushing it backwards.

The end of our tour took us through Ocean Beach and along the Sunset Cliffs. It took quite a bit of willpower to not park the car and head to the beach - the day was perfect for swimming/body boarding!

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August Visitors! Part 1

Last week(ish), Tim's sister came to visit us!

Our first stop was dinner in Old Town, where we had the BEST mango margaritas.

 That weekend we were finally able to give Laurie her birthday present - a zip lining adventure! I did some research and found out that the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park has a zip line, so we packed up and headed north to the desert. Along the way we picked up our family friend, Ken!

 We had some time to kill before our zip line safari, so Tim found out he's a bit taller, but not quite as wide as a gorilla...

and we caught their bird show. This guy flew right over our heads several times!

 I had to get a glimpse of the elephants - they're my favorite! How can you not love the little baby following his momma!?

 Then it was on to our safari! We're anxiously awaiting instructions after signing away our lives.

We're always putting fashion first...

 Getting ready to take off on our first zipline!

 After the first (short) zip line, they drove us up to the very peak of the park for the real deal! The main line is 2/3 of a mile long and takes about 4 minutes. I was the only one with a fear of heights, so naturally they had me go first. Oy!

We're all in the next photo (scanned image - sorry!). From L to R is Laurie, Ken, Tim, and Me. Basically right after this picture was taken Tim and Ken zoomed past me and landed first.

(Click to Enlarge)

After our safari, we headed deeper in to the valley and took the tram ride around "Africa." 

After that, it was much too hot (104+) to stay in the park and we headed back to our air conditioned condo.

The next day was much more relaxed, because we went to the beach! Here we are, coming out of the water, after a fairly successful body boarding session. 

Dinner was not only delicious, but also a lesson in dressing -

You want to know the problem with shorts/dresses in hot weather?

Chairs like this...

leave marks like this:

 Ouch!

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**UPDATED** Ready, Set, Action...26

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. :-)

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