Hooray for Hollywood, Thanksgiving and the Hovering Helicopter

Los Angeles

Thanksgiving was spent in true tourist fashion; wandering around Hollywood, looking for the famous sign on the side of the mountain, trekking through the streets looking for souvenirs, and playing hide-n-seek with my picks from the famous stars embedded in the sidewalks.

We found the closest angle, after many tries, of the famous Hollywood sign. This was not an easy feat. Then we found a parking place and meandered towards the very busy street, which did not seem affected by the holiday. As we were walking and talking a man approached us, wanting to get our attention by referring to the KU cap and shirt Sam was wearing. No, he did not attend school there, his brother did, and Sam has loved the little Jayhawk ever since. The guy tried engaging us in his conversation, and as I was trying to determine the reason for this, my foot hit a two inch high piece of metal sticking up out of the sidewalk, propelling me to the ground quickly.

Since working out, I have felt more sure on my feet than I have in years. My balance has greatly improved, to the point of being able to hike very uneven terrain successfully, but this fall was too fast for me to stop. However, the silver lining is that the planks I had started doing paid off, because my arms stopped my fall. Had I not been strengthening my arms for a few weeks now, I am sure my face would have been the worst victim of this accident. As it was, my left shoulder was sore for more than a week after the fall.

The piece of metal was a street sign which had been severed, leaving the nub of metal protruding in the middle of the sidewalk with nothing to keep someone like me from tripping over. I would think a workhorse should be put there, because I was fortunate, someone else may get hurt much worse.

We walked to the famous Chinese Theater and walked around searching for handprints from people we may know. The theater has an odd assortment of handprints from people of various backgrounds. We spent some time there, and then noticed the really large assortment of stars on the sidewalks. Not knowing how far they extended, we tried walking through them, but then on the corner of Hollywood and Vine we saw they went in all directions and became a bit overwhelming. After finding the star for Mr. Rogers, I really wanted to see two more stars: Garth and Johnny.

We walked and walked, and browsed the stores and finally Sam looked up their locations on the internet, because we were getting tired! Luckily for us, they were close to one another, and I took some awesome pictures with them both (Sarah took them and has been keeping all her pictures behind lock and key so I cannot share them!) Sam added to my famous icons collections by buying me an Oscar, which is the most appropriate representation of LA.

We returned to the RV to make our fantastic Thanksgiving dinner, complete with homemade apple pie and decorations on the table. We ate too much and had a terrific visit. The only drawback to the day was the lack of communication available due to the campground’s location. We had talked to David and Chuck earlier in the day from downtown Hollywood, but had hoped to talk to Jonathan, instead we settled for texting.

The following day we headed back out to the spa where we enjoyed some relaxation and some fun in the mud bath. I felt very dirty, followed by very clean, and the spa itself was incredible. I spent some time in the sauna and if we did not have to get back for Sam’s flight, I could have spent a lot more time enjoying a place like that.

Sam left later on that day, and as he flew off towards the Midwest, Sarah and I went back to the RV for one last night in the state park right on the beach of LA. The campground seemed like such a good idea when I had booked it, months earlier, but as we lay in bed that night listening to the planes roaring overhead, I was glad we were leaving early in the morning.

We had the TV on, so when the louder than usual sounds started, I was not sure what they were. As I listened harder, I identified the sound as a helicopter. I said this to Sarah, and then it got even louder. It sounded as if the helicopter was landing on our roof. I was starting to get alarmed, when I heard a voice, shouting, obviously on a megaphone from the helicopter.

I got up at this time, about 10:30 it was, to see what was going on. I peered through the front side window, pulling the privacy curtain back to do so. I saw a helicopter hovering about ten spots down from us, with his light on something on the ground. For the next ten minutes, he circled, pointing the light at the same spot on the ground. I watched, thinking the police would come at any time, but I never saw them. Finally, the helicopter light moved, and we saw a guy run toward our RV. He stopped, crouching on the ground behind an RV not too far away. He stayed there, while we saw the helicopter shining its light elsewhere. I became worried he was a convict or something, and would try to get in an RV, like mine!

Soon after that, the helicopter left, and we wondered what had happened, never seeing police come to the area. As we went back to bed, we noted we should check tomorrow to see if we could find out what happened, but we never did. We fell asleep listening to the airplanes continue their assault on the city, or at least our portion of it. The next morning I was never happier to leave a campground.