"In many ways the Big Boy never left sir..."

It doesn't make for good writing, but I am going to start this post from where I left the last one... Struggling to stay awake on my first day in the USA.

After posting on Friday we took a trip to the pool, an hour long walk around the parts of the Santa Clarita marathon track that Dad was running on Sunday, and hung out in the lobby of the hotel in an attempt to stay awake.

Sam's Empire Expands

These things worked... We both managed to make it to 6 PM (some 31 hours after leaving Adelaide) before passing out for a well deserved 13 hour sleep.

Saturday morning came and I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a truck... Not so much because I was feeling bad, I think just catching up on sleep took its toll.  Eventually we made it down for our breakfast (which for me was pancakes and a shitload of bacon) and we went off to run some marathon errands.  Picked up some items, chatted to some Americans (Dad met a guy who seemed to enjoy tax as much as he did... Amazing I know), and headed back to the hotel to get ready to head into Santa Monica and Los Angeles.

Quote of the day: (American Marathon Official to me) "Are you going to root for your father?"
'*snickering* Yeah, I'm absolutely going to root for him'

Driving down to Santa Monica was easier than driving down up to Valencia the day earlier, I guess being a Saturday played a role, however the traffic wasn't exactly light.

We walked the Santa Monica Pier in what was absolutely beautiful weather, you gotta love Southern California.

 

Whilst on the pier we bought tickets on the Starline hop on-hop off bus network, which I had already done when I was previously in LA, though the information had been updated since... For example, facts such as celebrity deaths and newer celebrities who were doing things at random points in the city.  A beautiful day in So-Cal, open top bus, no need for a jumper right?... Yeah, keep telling yourself that Sam...

Dad Joke of the Day: (whilst passing by Millions of Milkshakes, the automated tour guide noted that celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Miley Cyrus sometimes got behind the counter and created their own milkshakes)
*Dad leans in and on the crowded bus says* "Must be because they've got the jugs"

We made it to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and walked to the Chinese Theater.

Moon Landing

Chinese Theater

It is a bit of a tourist trap, and you get accosted by many people trying to sell their tours and other wares.  I glanced at one bloke and he bailed me up and was trying to give me his hip-hop CD for a small tip, I legitimately had no coin on me (the tour had cleared me out), so I gave back his CD and we found a bank.  It is a pretty crazy street, or that section of it anyway, as the photo below will show, there are some crazy characters...

Walk of Fame dames

I don't know what those girls were selling, but seeing them walking to their spot on the sidewalk was a fair old selling point...

The drive back to Santa Monica on the bus wasn't that enthralling because it was mostly driving and not really any touristy shit to see... They spent 5 minutes playing California surf music, then demanded that we stop dancing... I wasn't up the top of the bus, it was too cold for that, no jumper Sam, no jumper... That and I was sunburned... Turns out if it is cool but sunny you may get burned... At least that is universal.  The major highlight, and I mean MAJOR HIGHLIGHT, we drove past a Pizza Hut on the way, turns out they have their stuffed crust with bacon inside... Bacon... Bacon makes everything better...

After grabbing some dinner at an Italian restaurant, where Dad performed his pasta carb loading, we heading to Burbank so I could see my friend Sarah who I met 4 years earlier when I had previously been to the USA.  I was so tired on the drive up, nearly fell asleep once or twice, so I was a little concerned I'd be awful company... Thankfully that second wind kicked in because we went off to a concert.

Before the concert, we stopped at Sarah's co-worker's house.  They all work in the TV industry.  This dude had a TV set up which I was so, so jealous of... See below:

Two TVs... College football on the top, Lakers on the bottom... Absolutely amazing set up

We 'Ubered' (ride share) to the Fonda Theatre which is on Hollywood Bvd for a New Politics concert.  As many of you would know, I'm borderline music illiterate, but it was a great show.  Up vibe and energetic, break-dancing and parkouring.  Brilliant times, I enjoyed myself thoroughly.  The opening band was Bad Suns, who were really good as well.

View down the boulevard

Rooftop Beer Garden

After the concert we headed back to Sarah's house, but prior to that we thought about getting some food.  It was nearly midnight PST.  We at random happened to drive by a diner... The diner just happened to be the Big Boy.  The significance of this is that it was the getaway vehicle of Dr. Evil in the first Austin Powers movie.

I jumped at the chance to go to the Big Boy, and couldn't help but poorly quote the lines from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

Commander: "Good god... He's back..."
Johnson: 'Well, in many ways the Big Boy never left sir.  He's always offered the same high-quality meals at competitive prices'

The chili-cheese-fries... Amazing...
The chocolate milkshake... Thicker than any thickshake I had in Australia... Amazing, but went unfinished...
I do wish I'd had the room to have a full meal, but such a wonderful experience.  I really do need to thank Sarah and her co-workers for the tickets and the ability to eat at the famous Big Boy diner.

Eventually got to bed at about 1-1:30 AM PST.  Tomorrow will be the beginning of what could be up to two Marvel-style crossover blogs with Dy & Rhi's trip.