Adventure day

Yesterday I had an itch to take an adventure day with my girls. Thankfully, the two easiest (and available) people in my life were available to join us; mom and Julie. They are always on board for "whatever". For that I am so thankful.

I wanted to go to Graumanns Chinese theater and wander through LA.n the girls helped me pack up the car with food and off we went.

We don't have a DVD player in the car and the girls didn't bring any electronics with them. It was just us. I feel it is a good thing for them to look up and out while taking road trips. Electronic gadgets just take away from the experience.

On the way down (because traffice was so bad) we stopped at a restaurant to use their bathroom. As we walked in I saw two adults and two kids sitting at a table. The kids were playing their DS'. That is SUCH a pet peeve with me. Nothing says, "I don't want to deal with you." more than a kid with a gadget at the dinner table.

As we came out of the restaurant and got back into the car, we saw a shoe store going out of business. Everything was 60% off. We couldn't resist, so we checked it out. Final score on that trip: Avery 3 pairs, Julie 1, mom 1, me and aspen.....0.

Off we go. By this time, we were hungry, so we pulled out our PBJs. For some reason, those sandwiches never get old. We ate as we drove. On our way, we saw areas that brought back memories and we shared stories with the girls. As one story unfolds everyone chimes in with questions or additional stories. No matter the conversation, we usually end up with a laugh.

When we got do Hollywood blvd, I told the girls to keep their eyes peeled. They will see interesting characters for sure. Immediately, Aspen sees a homeless man and called him a hobo. I told her not to use that term out loud as it might be offensive.

When we got to the theater, we were distracted by all the concrete slabs with the stars imprints. It was fun to watch the girls go from one to the next while we explained which stars were in which movies. When we saw Jean Simmons I had to explain it was not the guy from Kiss, but a lady from many years earlier.

We searched through the stores, bought a quick souvenier and piled back in the car to venture through Mulholland drive. As we passed universal studios I offered to take the girls there instead of driving around. They opted for the drive. This made me giggle. The would rather sit in the back of the car and play tourist than go to an amusement park.

We went to Rodeo Drive. My plan was to park and walk, but traffic was so slow that we literally saw every store at walking pace, so we just kept going. We passed the Beverly Hills Hotel, the LA national Cemetery, and eventually started heading home.

On our way we made one more stop for dinner at the Promenade. We asked the girls their hi and low. Their high was driving through LA. Their low was they didn't see any stars. We told them we would open the sunroof on the way home and they could see all the stars they wanted. They didn't laugh.

All in all, we were in the car for about 7 hours. And out of that there was not one complaint about being bored. We all had a great experience. And as we neared home, the girls were asking if there was anywhere else we could go. I love that.

If they were checked out in electronic gagdets, I guarantee they would have hit boredom ten times over. But as we were all sharing the experience and stories together, we were a captive audience for them and we all had a great time. I can't wait to do it again soon!

Happy Thursday