On Saturday we headed to Forest Lawn. Some people might think it's strange to spend part of a vacation at a cemetery, but Forest Lawn is actually a really cool place to visit. They have a ton of things to see. First we went to the one in Hollywood Hills. They have some pretty interesting artwork.
Later we went to the one in Glendale which has the stained glass of The Last Supper, but you aren't allowed to take pictures there. They also have a replica of Michelangelo's David. Wow. Interestingly enough, when we went there when I was in high school, they did not show us that statue. hahaha
We also spent part of the day at Griffith Park and Griffith Observatory. It was so busy there. That's what we get for going on a Saturday. We had to park really far away and walk. A man stopped us and told me that my flip flops were a poor shoe choice, but I said I didn't have anything else and I was just fine. :)
Matthew kept freaking out on the walk because he wanted to mess with the chain-link fence. Each time we would stop he would grab it (if he was close enough), but as soon as we started walking again he fussed, and fussed for the whole 10 minute walk up to the observatory.
That's the Hollywood sign in the background.
After we had sufficiently explored, we left and tried to find the old zoo at Griffith Park. I thought it would be pretty easy to find, but it wasn't. Oh, well. I did find instructions online of how to get there, but it was too late by that time. Maybe next time!
That night we headed into the craziness of Hollywood. We visited El Capitan, Grauman's Chinese Theater (that's not what it's called anymore, but whatever), and walked along the Walk of Fame.
Then we had dinner at a BBQ restaurant. My food wasn't that great, but Connor really liked his. We grabbed some dessert to-go and decided we'd head to our hotel.
That night we were staying at a Days Inn in San Bernardino. When we got there Matthew was asleep. We parked and saw about 10 people walking into one hotel room. Right away we were thinking great. Also, it just kind of had a strange vibe about it, even without all the people going into the one room. So, Connor said he'd go check us in and we could check out our room, and decide from there. We only paid $45 for the room, and we wanted to have a good nights sleep before heading home the next day.
So Connor checked us in, and while he did that even more people headed into the one hotel room. Then one of the girls in the room opened the door and started shouting something to her mom and aunt who I'm assuming were in the car still. Connor came back to the car, and said he had the key but I think at that point we were already leaning towards just going somewhere else.
He went to our room, which was 2 doors down from the "party room". When he went in he said it smelled like cigarette smoke, even though it was supposed to be a non-smoking room. Then he kept hearing the people above banging repeatedly on the floor. So....yeah...he came back to the car and we decided to go somewhere else. He turned the key in and the manager asked what the problem was. He said the room stunk, and we have a baby and we need to get some rest. The manager apologized for the room, but they were booked for the night so they didn't have another one to offer. He said he would talk to the "party room" and ask them to keep it down, but Connor said it wasn't necessary. It probably wouldn't have done anything anyway.
So, we drove to a much nicer part of San Bernardino, and stayed in a Best Western instead. Much more comfortable, and a much better breakfast. It was a good decision.
The next morning Matthew woke up way too early, but he was up and ready to go. So we got a semi-early start, which was good. The drive should have taken 10 hours, but with all our stops it took us 12. By the end, Matthew was done. Nothing I tried would keep him entertained. He did not want to be in his car seat anymore. When we were a couple hours away from home we stopped and then when I went to strap him back in, he turned himself around and stood up.
He was not very happy when I had to buckle him in.
We finally made it home around 9. It was a long, long drive, but it felt so good to be home! It had been almost 3 weeks for me and Matthew. We had quite the adventurous summer, that's for sure.
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