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A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of visiting the Los Angeles area to see some friends and to work from down there for a couple of days.  This was my first trip to this city, and it is interesting to be able to say that I have officially visited the “big four” cities in California now (San Diego,  LA, San Francisco, Sacramento).  Anyhow, I had a good trip, and was able to see some interesting sights along the way.

Contrary to the title, I actually did not make it all the way to Hollywood proper.  Instead, I visited the Santa Clarita and Glendale areas, perhaps venturing into Burbank a little along the way.  I drove from the Bay Area, through the central valley, and into Santa Clarita early Sunday morning, a very pleasant drive past a reservoir just south of the bay, and then through some rather interesting mountains close to LA.  I started out with breakfast that morning with a couple from college. It was really good to see them and to catch up on their recent marriage and new adventure of life together.  After that, I essentially headed straight to my hotel in Glendale, where I slept for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

The next morning, which I had off from work as well, I started out after it was light by walking past the DreamWorks campus and several of the Disney studios.  I am still not too keen on battling the LA traffic, but a little later I did drive as far as downtown Glendale to visit a mall complex, actually two malls side-by-side.  One of the shopping centers had a giant bell tower overlooking the shops, and I ventured up the structure and beheld a nice view of the surrounding area.  I then grabbed lunch on my way back to the hotel, as it was already afternoon by this point.  I managed to sleep for a few hours before I went in to work for a screening of “The Avengers,” which I had seen once already but enjoyed viewing again a second time.

After a few more hours of sleep, I went in to work in the middle of the night for my shift.  It was great to meet in person many of my fellow wranglers whom I am in constant contact with, yet I had not had the opportunity to interact with them in person before.  Working from a different location was not really all that different, and I enjoyed touring a whole new studio and meeting many people while there.

The next day was very similar to the previous, except that at the end of my workday I headed back up north to get home.  I had the next day off, so I took my time driving up the coast along Highway 1 for most of the trip, along a route apparently referred to as the “Pacific Coast Highway.”  It was a very enjoyable drive, at least until the sun was right in my eyes, winding along the edge of cliffs, across narrow bridges, and barely hanging onto the sides of the mountains, with one lane being closed at spots due to the other lane having fallen over the edge.  No joke.  Regardless, I was happy to be able to see a long stretch of the coast of California to finish up a great little trip.

While I was not able to explore much of the LA area on this trip, I really enjoyed the opportunity to visit that area.  I hope to visit LA again sometime soon, and perhaps that time I will be able to see more sites and visit several other people that I know down there.