Santa Monica Pier

The sign as you enter the pier. Since the pier was within walking distance we went the probably 3 times while we were there.

A view of the pier from the sidewalk close to out hotel.

A pelican hanging out at the pier.

He took off and flew around a couple of times and landed.

The beach and in the background is Malibu from the pier.


The view from the other side of the pier, looking towards Venice beach.

Carousel at the pier.

View from an observation deck at the end of the pier.

Rodeo Drive

After Hollywood we went to a Farmers Market then of to Beverly Hills and a drive down Rodeo Dr. These photos were taken thru the bus windows. We were lucky and sat up front.

How do you like their Christmas Lights.

Hooray for Hollywood

The day we went to the float barns we also went to Hollywood, our first stop was the Hollywood Bowl.

In the box seats there were wine bottle holders, I thought that was something a little different.


Our next stop was downtown Hollywood, the tour guide told us how to get to the best viewing sight of the hollywood sign. We had 30 to 45 minuets in downtown Hollywood. I would have liked to have spent more time there.

The Kodak Theatre home of the Oscars and American Idol finale.

The famous Mann's Chinese Theatre, home of the hand and foot prints in concrete.

I won't bore you with all the photos we took there, but here is Roy Rogers.

All along the sidewalks are also the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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For my sister



Gene Autry is the only star that has the 5 different catagories given to stars, motion pictures, radio, television, live performances, and recording.

Rose Bowl 2nd Half

So, as the first half was coming to an end and Penn State was losing I said get my camera out, Dave said who cares if we get kicked out of the game now! The good light of day was going away, but I still managed to get some fun photos.

I think Pete Carrol was telling his player to let us score!

Can you find the ball?

Click on the phot to make it a little bigger.

How about now?

Touchdown!

Second half kickoff.

Head Majorette - Blue Sapphire

Drum Major

Its time for the halftime shows!

The Rose Bowl - 1st Half

The 1st half of the game I took photos with my point and shoot camera, read on.

The Stealth at the game.

USC mascot Traveler the horse.

The trademark floating lion, We never get to see it from the 50 yard line at Beaver Stadium. Out seats were great for the game, 50 yard line about 4 rows from the top, under the press box.

The Blue Band marches onto the field, notice the drum major flip, in the end zone. I was afraid to take my camera out of the tote bag.

After the parade we went directly to the game. We were provided with a box lunch that we ate on the way to the game it was only about 2 miles from the parade to the game but traffic as you could imagine was backed up. We walked around the stadium and decided to go in. Now I knew there was a restriction on large cameras, I did a lot of research before we left on out trip. I emailed the the stadium directly asking them what they considered a large camera asking for specific dimensions, no response. On a photography website I searched for rose bowl pics and USC photos, I found a couple and found someone who had been to the Rose Bowl recently. I sent him a message and asked him about the restriction, he didn't know of any but advised to take along a point and shoot camera. Well, Dave even asked the tour guide from out travel agency and she said as long as you don't look like paparazzi or a sports illustrator photographer. So, after that I thought I should be alright. Wrong, as I entered the security part of the gate the guy told me my lens was to big, it needed to be smaller than a credit card. After a discussion we left and asked another security where the check in area was. I did not want to let my camera there so to make a long story a little shorter we ended up wrapping the camera in a blanket we had along for the parade, put it in the bottom of our one tote bag and we tried another gate and we successfully smuggled it in!

Rose Parade Continued

These are the last photos of the parade, There were 46 floats in the parade and a total of 90 entries and they travel 5 1/2 miles along the parade route.

" The Garden of Oz"

"Believe in Music"

My favorite floats are the one we saw being decorated

Seaside Amusement by Cal Poly Universities, the 2 campuses are 225 miles apart, they coordinate a year round effort to complete the float in 2 pieces and join them in October. The final flowers are added a couple of days before the parade.

"Hooray for Hollywood"