Thursday, April 12, 2012

The "Star Treatment"!

As we made our final exit from Dateland we felt an immediate sense of relief and a lowering of our stress levels. While we knew that we were on edge there we didn't realize just how much until that point. We made our way to Yuma to visit with my family one more time before heading into California. Mike has always wanted to do the Hollywood Walk of Fame, get a picture with Bruce Lee's star, and see the Hollywood sign in the hills...so with a little money in our pockets and all the time in the world on our hands we figured now was as good a time as any to make that dream a reality.







After a fun day and evening seeing the sights, fondling statues, and posing with french Spidermen we decided to stop into a bar called 25 Degrees for a couple of beers and some relaxation.  In the next room from the bar they were having a premier party for the "American Reunion" movie...we didn't see any stars (that we knew of) but we did start chatting with one of the security guys (Chris) that monitors the goings on at the bar and connecting hotel, The Roosevelt. Before we knew it he was ushering us into an inner outdoor courtyard at the hotel...there was a beautiful pool surrounded by palm trees and other greenery and a huge fire with couches to sit on by it.  He set up a security guy to keep everyone else out of the area and for a couple of hours we enjoyed our beers in private by the fire...we still aren't quite sure why we received such special treatment but we certainly weren't complaining! 

Over those two hours we continued to talk with Chris and the other guard G.K. and learned a little more about the history of The Roosevelt.  From the courtyard we could see an apartment that Marilyn Monroe stayed in for two years...we were also told some ghost stories about a couple of the rooms at the hotel.

Even though we were nowhere near able to afford to spend a night there (rooms started at $300 per night) we were treated like we mattered by all of the staff there and would highly recommend it to anyone who can!


Marilyn Monroe's Apartment



I wish we had been able to get better pictures there, these ones don't do much justice at all!

After having some coffee and sobering up for the drive out of Hollywood we made our way down the highway until we found a rest stop to get some sleep at.  When we woke up in the morning we were met with this spectacular view...


This is San Jacinto Peak...Palm Springs is in the valley next to it and there's a tramway you can take to the top.  It was a little pricey but we decided to go ahead and do it anyway.  We stopped at a tiny little Dinosaur gift shop and museum before we headed to Palm Springs for our tram ride...everything was incredibly overpriced but the photo op was free!



San Jacinto Peak is nearly 11,000 feet above sea level and typically has temperatures 30 degrees below those in the valley.  It had a fresh blanket of snow when we went up, which made for some beautiful photos and a chance to experience "winter" without suffering too much!













It was an amazing experience and definitely worth every penny! 

Palm Springs was a quaint little town but it was obvious that the cost of living would be expensive so we didn't spend much time there at all before getting back on the road and heading to Lake Havasu City, AZ, which is where we have been for the last few weeks.  I will cover that part of our journey in my next post but for now I will leave you with a blurry but interesting photo I got at a gas station on the way here.

 

You don't see that every day!

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