If you’ve read my blog for any time at all, you could probably gather that I’m kiiiind of a dork when it comes to living in Southern California.  I love taking people from out of town on tours of the area, and usually get more excited than they do to see the landmarks (again).

Wanna go to the observatory??
Sure.
Wanna drive up to the Hollywood sign??
Uh, ok.
Wanna go to the Walk of Stars??
Not really.
OK fine.

I have driven through Hollywood more times than I can count.  And I’ll still jump at the chance to do the double decker bus ride made for tourists.  I just get easily excited to learn something new/see something that I may not have noticed before.  Plus I don’t have to maneuver through traffic.  I can sit and take pictures and get some sun and feel the wind in my hair.  And that’s all fine with me.

On Monday, I had a couple ideas in mind – none of which sounded as fun as the Starline Bus Tour.  I don’t know why, I just thought that Stevie could appreciate it too.  So, with no actual visitors from out of town, we made our way to Hollywood & Highland to inquire about it all.  They said he could ride for free, and that was all I needed to be sold on the idea.  Since I had never done the tour through Downtown LA, I knew that had to be the one. We killed some time in Hollyweird and then boarded our tour bus.

Stevie was all nerves at first because the bus is big and loud, but as soon as we got to the top deck, he was happy as could be.  He held onto his little city map for dear life and wanted to sit on my lap to get a better view.  All this meant for me was that I’d be sweating to death and not able to take any video.  But also: free cuddles.  So, sweat to death I did.

We rode around for a couple hours and then stopped for lunch at Fatburger near LA Live.  But wait, did you hear that we rode around for a couple hours? This kid did not complain.  It seriously shocked me.  So yeah, then we had lunch, and one of the employees fell in love with Stevie (as most people do) and gave him free ice cream.  Before every bite, Stevie took a big, excited breath and said “cooooold ice cream”.

Then when I asked Stevie if he was ready to get back on the bus, I fully expected him to say “no”.  But he shouted “YESH! YAY!” and clapped his hands – raring to go.  He had his little backpack on and his cuteness just about sent me up into the clouds.  The ninth one for sure.

We stayed on the lower deck for the rest of the ride and made it all the way home unscathed.  Happy to report a success story with the little backpacked tourist!

— hollywood and highland —
— jimmy kimmel tried to scare people with a dinosaur.  it didn’t work too well — — i just love these pics!  like he’s lost in the big city or something.  hilarious — — dorks.  no fault of his own.  it’s all me — — guaranteed smile when he runs — — all done.  phew! —