Crimson Wing ~ Terri Sedmak: LAyover, or If they suggest you lock up your bag, warning Will Robinson!!

The beauty of blogging is that you are definitely the master of your own creation. My grand plan is to do a series of pictorial reinventions of my blogs from our recent tour of the United States. An indulgence on my part perhaps? Or perhaps a way to prod and press a very intense and varied time into something orderly and accessible. There'll be a little commentary along the way, and one or two humourous diversions. Ferry's Sidebars will pop up. I have lots of pics and adventures to share with you. Let's go!

First stop LA. I didn't expect the weather to be cool to mild; in fact, LA had some of the lowest daytime temps of anywhere we went (except for some 10,000+ft mountain tops). Don't expect any literary profundity here, people. This 24 hour sojourn was purely for the purpose of breaking up the long haul from Sydney to Boston. That and we'd never been to Hollywood before. And when Universal Studios rolls out the red carpet for you, how can you resist?


On our way to play (heading for the rides), we snapped a view of the pretty Hollywood Hills with the famous backlot in the right-hand forefront of the pic. Love the golf course (centre), too. The mind boggles.

On the tour of Universal Studios there was some real live shooting underway on some sections of the lot. Here is one such live filming, snapped from the tour bus. The tour itself included being caught in the middle of King Kong beating the crap out of T-Rex. Very cool.

Of course, I went to my happy place when the tour hit the Wild West town. Bit old and decrepit looking though. Seen better days. Back in the day they used to make the door the hero happened to be standing in smaller so he looked big and protective, and if filming his leading lady, they'd make the door she happened to be standing in bigger so she looked small and fragile and in need of saving. You see, people, Hollywood is just an illusion.


And then there's Wisteria Lane, for all you Desperate Housewives!


The War of the Worlds plane crash set makes you realise acting can really be a tricky occupation - it's not just delivering your lines without sounding like a chump, you need to be able to negotiate the set!

Last tree standing.

Transformers ride! Brilliant virtualosity.

Don't let the gently swaying palm trees, the mind-numbing musical theme from the movie, the fun dinosaurs, and Tank's devil-may-care attitude fool you - there's an even-guys-squeal 80 foot vertical drop at the end!

I'm smiling now, but little did I know... when they suggest you check your bag in a locker before entering the ride, WARNING Will Robinson!! Imhotep's idea of revenge and a million nasty scarab beetles awaited me. The Mummy is one physically rough rollercoaster ride in the dark. This isn't my kind of ride, and I knew I was in trouble when the safety bar came down over my chest and held me so firmly in place I could hardly breathe. While I was in 'I wanna get off ' agony, the young guys next to me were wooping and hollering with utter joy. As we collected our bags from the locker my hands were shaking and I had movement phobia. We can't all be adrenaline junkies!

There are space heroes to see you safely back...

Fantasy heroes... advertising for Snow White & the Huntsman was everywhere, every available space and then some. I really must see that movie. My pal Thor, I mean Chris Hemsworth, looks just as awesome holding an axe and he does holding hammer! hammer!


And silly heroes... Tank vs Jaws. Ha!

An unforgettable visit... Farewell, Universal Studios!

Back on the Metro and what else can we find in Hollywood? Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, right? Oh sure, but we were so touristically blown away by all the famous hand and foot prints in the forecourt, we didn't take a pic of the building... well, you can Google that. Here is a selection from our collection.