After a few days wine tasting in Napa, it was time to head to our final destination on our grand cross-continent road trip. Packing in a few extra bottles of “fruit juice” that we found in Napa Valley, we loaded up Billie and headed to Los Angeles to stay with Amir Thomas, a friend of mine from North Carolina, and his friend Brian who have a place in Long Beach just south of LA. Somehow, despite his
allegiance to the TarHeels, we were still friends back then. After graduating from UNC with a degree in the dramatic arts, Amir moved to LA to “make it big” in the industry. He currently works for the E! Network as a Production Manager, and using his inside connections he secured tickets for Stefany and me to a taping of The Soup! with Joel McHale upon our arrival! Joel is hysterical and was enen gracious enough to take a picture with us at the end. Amir then gave us a tour of E! and then we headed home to crash after a long day of driving.
We awoke refreshed the next morning and decided lay around for a bit and watch trashy TV. After an episode of Tough Love and a cup of coffee, we decided it was time to hit the streets of LA and do a little sight seeing. 
Amir works evenings but gets off early on Fridays, so we were on our own for a bit. We first visited the French-inspired Le Pain Quotidien on Melrose Ave. for a late lunch, and then made our way to Hollywood Blvd. We strolled along the Walk of Fame looking for stars of interest, and then found ourselves filling the hand and footprints of our favorite movie stars on the sidewalk of the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Clearly, my one of my favorites was Donald Duck!We then met up with Amir for dinner at a funky little place that specializes in delicious organic hamburgers called Unami off La Brea Ave. So good! Afterwards, we had plans to paint the town in Hollywood; however, Stef had somehow lost her wallet. No worries…we found it! After a bit of sleuthing, we spotted it through the window on the floor beneath our table at Unami; however, it was closed for the evening. Alas, our night on the town would have to wait since Stef had no ID! The good news is that we found it, and we picked it up the next morning after the restaurant opened.
Feeling less anxious with her wallet in hand, Stef and Ralphie Giron, a Disney friend of hers who lives in LA, took off for a fun day at Disneyland. A Florida native, she has been to 
Disney World more times than she can count; however, this would be her first trip to the House of Mouse – SoCal style, which was all decked for the Christmas season. Despite her familiarity with Disney, she came back with plenty of Magical Moments (and pics) to share, one of which was the opportunity to meet the original Mickey Mouse from the first Steamboat Willie cartoon.
I spent the day in the kitchen with Amir and Brian preparing various Thanksgiving dishes as we had plans to spend the evening with a big group of Amir’s friends at a Thanksgiving potluck. You see, Amir is a FANTASTIC chef! He and his friend Crystal even keep a well-respected and –followed foodie blog called the Duo Dishes. You should check them out at www.duodishes.com. So, needless to say, I wanted to pick up a few tasty tips from the expert himself. 
My favorite dish was the sweet potatoes with marshmallows and walnuts, of course. It’s my all-time Turkey Day favorite, and he makes one that is melt-in-your-mouth good! After the day’s activities, we all met back up in Long Beach for a quick round of Wii Bowling, and then we headed out to enjoy the nightlife of Long Beach.The next morning was Sunday, and Stef and I headed toward the beaches. We drove out the Pacific Coast Highway to explore Malibu and have lunch at the famous Paradise Cove Beach Café. We opted to sit outside to see the ocean and, to our surprise, our seats were in the sand on the water! The view was amazing and the food was even better! Finally full from delicious oyster and crab soup and nearing sunset, we followed the PCH back through Santa Monica and then drove into LA. Destination: Staples Center for the LA Lakers game! Even though I am not a Lakers fan, we couldn’t pass up the chance to see Kobe and the defending world champion Lakers play a game in their house. We were not disappointed as Kobe put on quite a show. A basket over the backboard from behind the goal and a
buzzer-beater…and that was just in the first quarter! Aside from the stunning athletic ability of the Lakers team, the entire Lakers organization puts an entertainment event like no other athletic event which I have witnessed. They even have a band!!! Come to think of it…I know a French Horn player who might be interested! ;) Just kidding.Of course, you cannot attend a Lakers game without a celebrity sighting…only we came on the star-studded night of the year!!! You see, next door to the Staples Center is the Nokia Theatre…ONLY the venue for the 2009 AMAs…which also happened to be that same night!!! After cameo appearances by the Alex Rodriguez, Jay-Z, and Cypress Hill and an impromptu performance by the Black Eyed Peas…Stef and I knew that our LA/Hollywood experience was complete. Too bad our camera had died by halftime…otherwise we would have pics for you! After the game we headed home to watch the AMAs (you gotta love DVR) with Amir and enjoy a bottle of that fantastic Napa “fruit juice” we had picked up.
On our final day in LA, Amir decided to take us to a few of his favorite places around town. First we hiked up Runyon Canyon for break-taking views of the entire city, including the “HOLLYWOOD” sign. We then ate an amazing lunch at The Griddle Café near Westwood. 
We then dropped Amir off at work and then headed out to explore Santa Monica’s pier and 3rd Street Promenade. We decided to take in a movie, so we saw “The Blind Side”. If you have not seen it, I highly suggest it! Great movie!After the movie we headed back to LA to pick up Amir and then made our way back to Long Beach to pack our things. On Tuesday, we loaded up Billie, said our good-byes, and headed out for two long days of driving.
Next stop: Arkansas for Thanksgiving weekend (and the last weekend of regular-season college football, or course!)
