Stars - 12/05/2016
After our four day stay in Los Angeles, the time had come to expand our horizon towards San Jose: today would be a road trip ending in Carpinteria, near Santa Barbara.
The day started with breakfast and packing our backs to leave behind the lovely hotel we had stayed in at Irvine. While a part of the group started to pack the cars with the bags, the trip committee announced that the budget for our "cultural activities" turned out to be factors higher than previously assumed. Whereas before we had discussed whether or not there was budget for more basic expenses, the discussion had now shifted to what otherwise would be impossible activities which we could do with this money. Fairly soon, we decided a shooting range and an attraction park were good ideas to do during the coming days.
In fully loaded cars, we headed north towards Hollywood. Here, we spent some time at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, took our picture at the Donald Trump star in the pavement and had some lunch. Planning to make a group picture at the Hollywood sign in the nearby Hollywood Hills, we continued our journey.
Our car stranded at the the top of the Hollywood Hills at Griffith's Observatory. From here, we had a clear view of the Hollywood sign. Alas, we were the only car at this points, so a SPOCK group picture was not among the options. As this plan had failed, we went into the obsevatory, which was turned out to be free and very interesting. We spent an hour studying the stars and universe around us and headed back out. Outside the observatory, two of the other cars had just arrived, but as the last car was already on its way towards Santa Barbara, a group picture was still not possible, so we drove on.
The major part of the day had already passed, but the real roadtrip was yet to start. With a detour via Beverly Hills, we took the highway along the Pacific coast for the remainder of the tour. Late at night, we finally regrouped at Motel 6 in Carpinteria. As most people were tired of the long drive and tomorrow would be a long day as well, we had a single drink and hit the bed.
By: Joep Zanen