Los Angeles: Hello again!

When I left Barstow this morning, it was extremely windy.  Yesterday it was the heat, today the wind.  What else can I experience in southern California that I don't in the Pacific Northwest.  Uh, I would prefer NOT to feel any earthquakes on this trip!  Before heading into Los Angeles, I took a less direct route to visit my favorite local gift shop in the town of Littlerock.  Charlie Brown Farms is awesome!

It's a huge shop with snack foods such as candy, nuts, dried fruit, beef jerky...you name it, they probably have it!  In addition, they have other food items like honey, pickles, preserves and sauces, as well as many types of gift items and even BBQ meats.  I could have spent a lot longer perusing the merchandise, but I had things to do.  After five days on the road...and especially driving on a dusty gravel road at Death Valley National Park...my Outback was in desperate need of a wash.  I went to what looked like a good car wash in North Hollywood.  For less than $20, my car was vacuumed, hand washed, got a couple of good waxes applied in the automatic washer, and had a nice wipe down inside and out, including tire shine.  I sure wish they had this kind of car wash where I live!

My afternoon was spent attending a live taping of  Conan...Conan O'Brien's excellent and entertaining talk show.  After going through security and checking in, I was pleasantly surprised that the Warner Brothers Studios security officer working there remembered me from last year!  We had previously had a nice chat and we did again today.  Even though cameras were prohibited, people were allowed to have their cellphones, as long as they turned them off during the show.  I should have kept my flip phone with me because I could have at least taken some photos with its built-in camera.  Sadly, I have no photos from my Conan experience.  It was fun, though.  Conan's guests were Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Jason Jones (Detour) and the band Eagles of Death Metal.

Tomorrow will be a day of more fun and adventure.  I'll be starting things off with another live show  taping... Celebrity Name Game with host Craig Ferguson.  I really miss not seeing him anymore doing his talk show, so this will be great!  In the afternoon, I'll be traveling to The Queen Mary in Long Beach where I'll be spending the night.  Yes, it's a hotel!  Then, I'll cap off my day with the ship's Haunted Encounters tour.  I might have not have time to post on my blog tomorrow, so Saturday will be catch up day.