Our third Magical Mystery Tour (MMT) was held over Mother's Day weekend, and Jeri Ann was the planner this time around. Thanks to an amazing hook-up, her sister Jenny, we hit LA with a vengeance. Jeri Ann planned some awesome activities and fun, and we had an amazing time. I'll start at the beginning, but will try to avoid including every tiny detail (such as the incredible Cubana sandwich on day 1...). OK, so, after having the surprise of 4 of the 5 of us meeting up on the same plane in Salt Lake (lots of laughing and screaming and cheering), we landed at LAX where we met Charlyce. Jenny picked us up outside, and we piled into her little car like a bunch of clowns. Thankfully the drive was short, and we arrived and Jen's darling house in West Hollywood, which is where we spent the weekend. Jen handed over her car and house keys, and hit the road to spend the weekend with friends. You rock, Jenny! We walked down to Trader Joes, where we bought some groceries for the weekend (and may or may not have had an amazing Cubana sandwich), and then we cleaned up and headed downtown. Jer had a bus tour of Hollywood homes planned for us that afternoon, so we headed downtown to catch the tour. It was really fun to see these amazing homes and neighborhoods, and although we didn't have any star sightings to speak of, we're pretty sure we saw Bruno Mars' friend. Exciting. Well anyway, our day was not yet done! We changed shoes and went on a hike to the observatory and to see the Hollywood sign. It was fun, and really quite pretty up there. I can't remember where we ate that night, but remember - I'm not going to include every little thing we did and ate (our waiter, John Beam, is worth mentioning, though. We're pretty sure he was on drugs while serving us, and we heckled him (aka, made his day) for the next three nights.). Now, my days and nights are getting all mixed up in my head, so I'm just going to list the rest of our activities in no particular order. We window shopped on Rodeo Drive; we ate cupcakes and treats at several different bakeries; we rented bikes and rode up and down Santa Monica beach and boardwalk, Venice Beach, and Rodondo Beach; we paddleboarded in Marina Del Rey (how studly we are, right??); we attended a Dodgers game and post-game fireworks (and lost our car in the parking lot - found it finally because it was practically the last car in the lot); and oh, nothing major, but...we were on TV! On "Extra," to be exact. You can see where we were strategically placed, front and center, directly behind where Mario and Maria did their interviews. At first, after stumbling upon the live taping, the only available spot was clear off to the side - way out of camera range. Then, as if by magic (thus the "magical" in Magical Mystery Tour), we were plucked out of obscurity and into the lime light. It was the moment we'd all dreamed of. I might be exaggerating the magnitude of our stardom, but I assure you that we acted as though we had just been cast in the lead role of a major movie. It was such an awesome, wonderful, and magical trip, with the best friends a girl could ever ask for.
