Not So Glamorous

When I was 11, my family went on a summertime vacation to San Francisco. We did all the touristy stuff but had a great time doing them. "Alcatraz" (my favorite), driving down the windiest road in the country(or is it world?), all the fish and things to see at Fisherman's Wharf, riding the trolley cars, and of course all the interesting people everywhere. And, the most interesting of the interesting people were the beggars- or bums. They played music, danced, one had a dog sleeping next to him with a cigarette in it's mouth and a shirt on. That was a visual that's stayed with me.

Skills and creativity can earn you money in our world. A younger and more crazy version of my husband, with a couple friends, once dressed as homeless guys and went out and danced and sang to see if they would get money- and by golly, they sure did. I don't remember the amount but they were all surprised at how much they made.

Here I am on that great trip.
FYI- my socks do have stripes that EXACTLY match the colors on my sweatshirt. And as you may have guessed- the sweatshirt did say "Yacht Club" on it.With my cute little sisters Sally and Miranda at "Old Fort". Do you love my pose that shouts "Look out world- I am pre-teen!"?
Fast forward 20 (or so) years. On our recent trip to California we took the kids out to Hollywood to see the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame- the stars in the sidewalk and the older, and much cooler, footprints in the cement at Graumans Chinese Theater.
After we all found parking and started to walk over to the area, we began noticing something, or things.
Yes- that is Snoopy. Then on the next crosswalk, we walked past Dora. While I was trying to figure this out, my kids started getting excited.

In front of the theater we saw Mr. "Kiss". Gross, but Eli was thrilled, as you can see. I finally just figured it was a just the theater's way of marketing or something.

So then Eli yells out "Darth Vader!" Abruptly he turned around, gave Eli a light-saber (exactly like the one we have from Target) and began fighting with him. So Eli was in seven heaven and so was I until after I took this picture, when Darth turned to me and said "I work for tips." I was caught off guard but replied back "I don't have any tips....sor..." At which point he took back the light-saber and high tailed it down the street.

So. All these "characters" are bums in costumes! Bums are getting lazy I tell you! When did that happen! I neglected to get a picture of the midget dressed as the "Chucky" doll. Truthfully, I was a little too terrified to let him know I had noticed him.

This big swarm of people were all trying to get their pictures with Michael Jackson's star.

We went for a photo-op with a star nearby.

I did like seeing the old footprints and was, of course, reminded of that old "I Love Lucy" episode. So classic. I couldn't remember which one she was trying to steal though.

Eli is super interested in everything Egyptian. So this motel entrance was his favorite part of Hollywood. I guess he's striking an Egyptian pose. I've showed him all my old "Walk Like an Egyptian" moves but he's not quite seeing the beauty in them yet.

Even through the weirdness, it was fun to be with my "Big" kids. :)