California: Rain, PCH & Sunset

After a good night’s sleep, we were all feeling better and ready to explore on Friday morning. I guess one side of the F-L-U is that it made HG sleep to a normal waking hour, even being behind two hours behind! My only plans for the day were to take a pic of Helen Grace with the Hollywood sign and to drive up the Pacific Coast Highway, so we hopped in the car and struck out to find the famous Sprinkles cupcake shop in Beverly Hills. No sooner than 20 minutes later, the s-l-o-w LA traffic and the nice warm sun made HG fall right to sleep. She slept  through my running inside for cupcakes and our spending 30 more minutes trying to find the perfect spot to take a pic with the Hollywood sign in the background. She woke up just in time, but in true Toohig {unlucky} fashion, as soon as we pulled up to the gas station that has a great spot to photograph the sign, it started HAILING. Seriously. Hailing in the middle of Hollywood. Never happens. Except when I want to take a picture. Hmph. So I took a pic of HG in the car at that spot, and that’s the best we can show for our efforts.

Thankfully, the rain clouds soon blew over, and we headed for the Pacific Coast Highway. HG fell asleep again, so we kept driving until we got to Malibu and found a cute lunch spot right on the ocean. When we walked in, we realized that it was the same chain as the Duke’s we ate at in Honolulu- very neat! We had a delicious lunch with a fussy baby who wanted to play at a beach, so we hopped back in the car to find the girl some sand. Well, when we stumbled upon Paradise Cove, we sure did find a little slice of Paradise! It’s apparently a hugely famous tv and movie filming location, and I can see why. It’s breathtaking. HG frolicked and chased more seagulls for a while, and then we headed back to the car to let her finish her nap. (For future reference, it’d be a smart idea to buy something at the cafe there to save a TON on parking, although it was so pretty, I gladly forked over the money.)

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was late afternoon, and both HG and John collapsed. He had started coming down with something too, unfortunately, and we worried it might be the F-L-U. While the two of them napped, I headed to the lobby to enjoy a glass of wine and my book and wait for the sunset. The clouds didn’t disappoint, and I took a bajillion pics of the beautiful sky. As soon as the sun disappeared over the ocean, I got a text from John that HG was up and NOT HAPPY that I was exploring without her. Back up to the room I went, collected her, and then we set off to explore some more. We also had an adventure as we took the hotel car to the nearest drugstore to pick up some Tamiflu for John. The locals were *interesting,* to say the least. Afterward, we enjoyed another room service dinner and called it a day. We had to get our beauty sleep for Disneyland on Saturday!

Sleeping Beauty Sprinkles founder, Candace Nelson, is a judge on Cupcake Wars on the Food Network. HG in the parking lot of the gas station where, I promise, the Hollywood sign is behind her This is as close as we could get to our Hollywood sign picture… Delirious at lunch at Duke’s…not as impressed as Mama of the ocean viewParadise Cove, Malibu  “Come here, birdie, birdie, birdie!” Breathtaking sunset from the front of Shutters with the Santa Monica Pier in the distance The way we roll in LA on a Friday night