Along the West Coast to L.A.

We left snowy Seattle, heading south in hopes of finding the sun again...

After a brief stay in Portland we continued on to Ashland, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.








Since our visit was outside of the regular season there was only a limited selection of theater plays. But we managed to secure tickets to a vaudeville comedy play called "Anmial Crackers", originally performed by the Marx Brothers. Hilarious, entertaining, and a bit crazy.







Max in front of a Shakespeare banner. They had them everywhere, just in case you didn't know yet what the big attraction in town is...

Back on the road across the state line to California, it was still surprisingly snowy and cold.

After a long day's drive we made it to Sacramento, the CA state capital. Impressive, but unfortunately we were too late to get the tour inside the Capitol.





















So instead we explored the old town - saloon, railroad museum, etc...

To finish the day in style we visited the Fox & Goose. 

Good food and libations - and merry folk in green that helped to entertain their fellow pub goers.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Refreshed we headed back on the road the following morning, and after a long day made it to the city of angels. Finally! Beach, ocean, and sunshine!!!! And of course the opportunity to visit friends from as far back as high school.

The weather was... WINDY! Let's just say there is a reason you see us bundled up most of the time. Even the birds could not make any headway, flying in place when we took the picture above. We did not let the weather deter us and explored the local beaches and waterways:

The Venice Canals (yes, they have them in the US as well, without the gondolas).

Venice Beach

Max showing what he's got. ("I'll be BAAAACK!")

While Sylvia enjoys the beach...yipee!

Then the surprise - we got tickets to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno!
For that very same day. So scratch all other afternoon plans and off we go to Burbanks, CA.

You were expected to show up by 2:45pm. As good Germans we were there early of course, #68 and #69 in line - that means there were 67 crazy fans in attendance. Taping started at 4pm. Let's just say that the time in between was spent standing in multiple lines and going through security ("No photos allowed!").
The taping was great (who knew they needed this many cameras for a few angles?). Jay even came out prior to going live to chat with the crowds.

Here is a link of the entire show: http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/monday-march-19-2012/1391559 with guest star Jamie Lee Curtis. I know you can't really tell, but this is where we were -> see orange box:

(Max wearing a white shirt and Sylvia left of him.)

After that much excitement we decided to take it easy the next day: Santa Monica (and warmer weather)

Funny, feels like we were here just last year... :)

Brrrr... the water is COLD!

To take in some of the culture L.A. has to offer we headed to the Getty Museum. 

The architecture is amazing!

View of Los Angeles from the Getty Museum

And of course we had to visit the Binoculars Building, whose tenant shall remain nameless.

                                                                                         That looks so comfortable, how do they get any work done?

Our final piece of advice: