d'Écriture: Universal Studios, Queen Mary, and Hollywood

I had expected Universal Studios to have even more thrilling rides than Disneyland, but disappointingly, they only have a few "rides," and I found them to be so-so. The Mummy rollercoaster was intense, but too short, and the Jurassic Park flume ride was more annoying than fun with the various dinosaurs constantly squirting us with water from their mouths.

Still, the shows there were really good, especially the tour of the studios and backlot, where you're never quite sure what is going to happen next. The animal actors show was also entertaining, and the "Backdraft" presentation about creating pyrotechnics wasn't exactly educational but still interesting, as was the presentation about creating special effects thanks to the wit of our "host."

While we were making our way towards one of the shows in the park, an unexpected boon befell us. A young woman approached us asking if we would be interested in sampling frozen beverages (like Icees or slushes). Normally, we would avoid such solicitation, but it was hot, we got free cold drinks that few other people have yet tasted, and in addition, they'd throw in a coupon worth five dollars for anything in the park. I'm technically not allowed to disclose any informaion about what I tasted, but of the five different Icee type drinks I tried, most of them were pretty good, including (surprisingly) a sugar free one that was just as good as any regular drink I've had. When all was said and done, it was a welcome relief from the heat outisde as I got to sit in an air conditioned office overlooking the walk below for about twenty to thirty minutes and try free frozen slushies.

Since our visit to Universal Studios took only one day instead of the two we had planned for, we took the next day to visit the Queen Mary, a retired cruise ship from the Cunard line (the same one as the Titanic) whose life spanned the decades from the 1930s-1960s.

Upon boarding the ship (which is massive, by the way), we first took the "Ghosts and Legends" tour, which takes you through the swimming pool room (where supposedly the water never drains from the floor of the pool no matter how many times they pump or mop it out), the boiler room (by far the creepiest room of the ship; we descended in an elevator about 36 feet below the waterline outside. Basically, I was standing on a metal walkway four feet off the very bottom of the ship's hull in a vast, very dark room where the boilers used to be.) Of course, they tell you that everything is based on reported sightings and encounters with the paranormal, as the ship is haunted, but everything that happened to us was clearly rigged up to freak us out, such as when the previously damaged bow of the ship began "flooding" with water from outside and we "evacuated" the chamber.

For the rest of the day, we sauntered around the various decks, exploring the ship and watching a nearby modern cruise ship load its passengers and luggage at an adjacent dock. To end our stay on the Queen Mary- which, incidentally is also an hotel, although we didn't stay in it, for which I'm glad- a character by the name of James led us on a guided tour of the ship and explained its various uses throughout history, from cruise ship to battleship during World War II.

Oh, and I can't neglect to mention my short visit to The Scorpion, a real, Soviet-era submarine docked right beside the Queen Mary. If you're ever visiting the ship, don't bother with the sub, as it is cramped, hot, and- most unnerving- "still in operational condition." I had to pity the poor Russian immigrants who work the tacky giftshop full of Cold War-era junk with various Russian words on everything, and I'm still not sure how the United States obtained the submarine.

Our last time spent in So Cal was in Hollywood. To put it bluntly, Hollywood is overrated. It was cool to see the sign on the hill and to walk along the walk of stars and visit the Chinese theater, but the walk of stars is like being in downtown Austin, where it's hot and dirty, not to mention there are a lot of weird people wandering around.

And you know something's wrong when you see Elmo and Barney, complete with little children asking for autographs, flanking the Playboy bunny. Funny, but true.

The houses on the drive up the hill toward the Hollywood sign were ok, but you can tell they're old, and personally, I didn't care for the style of many of them.

We did dine out in style in Beverly Hills (8 miles from where we were staying in kind of the ghetto) since my mom works for Houston's and gets free food at any location. Beverly Hills was pretty nice, and even though it was getting pretty dark, we still managed to see some very nice homes before returning to the hotel.

Probably the most interesting thing that happened while we were there was walking right into the filming of the ABC series Brothers and Sisters at the observatory not too far from the Hollywood Sign. We were very surprised to discover how close we could be to the action, and although Sally Field wasn't there, we did see Calista Flockhart and Matthew Rhys.