Hollywood! That's right we're stars!

As planned, we kicked off in style last Friday next to the Hollywood Boulevard of the Stars in this swanky spot: the Kimpton Every Hotel.

They have exceptional air conditioning ;) not to mention their swanky pool deck, hosted wine hour, and lobby pool table. I rarely think of hotel lobbies as a place to hang out, but that's exactly what we did. After a bit of a walk about for pizza dinner and photos of sidewalk stars, we came back and played pool for the evening. Our three person game of "cut-throat" promptly became a 4-person game when 12-year old "Mason" sauntered up and introduced himself. I say sauntered because I'm pretty sure that's the only way this kid moves. He had snake-skin boots, a checkered shirt, a Tennessee accent, and a whole lot of style! He'd been "shooting" since he was about six so he had some pretty slick moves to show us - right up until his mom found him and dragged him off for bedtime.

Saturday started with a beautiful ride & hike through the Hollywood Hills, right up to the back of the Hollywood sign - we're tourists, let's not pretend to be anything else. We took one of the more off-the-beaten-trail routes to get there and were pleasantly surprised with how real hike it was - dirt path, lots of greenery (... perhaps we underestimated you, LA) and, of course, the sign with vistas of the city behind it. To get the sign from all angles (again - tourists), we rode around to the front side afterward to get the requisite motorcycle+sign photo.

Saturday evening was our main event - the whole reason we came to Hollywood and the event dictating the start date for our grand adventure: the Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution show. Jon typically describes the show along the lines of "life changing." It's a reasonably well know ska band (Streetlight Manifesto) that every once in a while goes on tour and performs with a full orchestra behind them. It was pretty epic. And also, it was in the Dolby Theater which is where the Oscars are held every year (did I mention how swanky we are?!?!).