We had visitors and took them to Universal Studios

This last week we had Mitchell's Dad, Annie and Frankie come and visit us. They stayed in a hotel in Riverside and had some fun travelling around while we were both at work. 

On Friday, Mitchell took a day off work to take them to the zoo. They had a good time watching all the animals and then went to La Jolla cove in San Diego to see the sea lions even though it was a bit dark and then got some dinner. I stayed in bed with a book after work. 

Saturday we went to the farmers market to get some tamales (which was much easier than trying to explain them) and some smoothies. There was a arty craft fair taking place in one of the parks in Downtown Riverside, so we stopped there too and I got some earrings made from eucalyptus seeds. 

All the farmers market stalls

Hydrated, we went for a quick drive up to the top of Box Springs to get a good view of the city from up on a mountain. We had our picnic there and took some good photos while we worked out where all the landmarks were. On our way down, we had to stop because of all the wild donkeys blocking the road! There were so many by the side of the road, and a couple walked out to see the car. I opened the window to get a picture of one, and it clearly thought I was about to feed it, because it nearly stuck its head right in! 

Riverside from above


We then all came back to our apartment complex to go in the pool. It had been so hot all week that the pool had finally warmed up. When we went swimming in March it was still very cold, but this week it was warm enough for a quick swim.

After we'd all dried off, we then went to see Mitchell's improv show. It turns out even living in another country doesn't get Mitchell's family out of being expected to see him perform. The show went really well, Andrea had even come and brought some friends from San Diego with her.

The next day we were up early (early for how late we got back from improv the night before) to go to Universal Studios Hollywood! This is a theme park we've been wanting to go to, as it has rides and attractions all based around Hollywood movies. We went on the new Jurassic World ride, a transformers ride, and even a minions ride. They had meet and greet with characters (including the dinosaurs) throughout the park and whole areas designed to fit in with the movies. 

Entering Hogsmeade

Hogwarts just hanging out on the hill

Toothless the dragon just in a random shop

They also have a studio tour where a bus takes you around some movie sets and collections of props. We saw the street from 'The Good Place', the shark from Jaws and cars from several movies. They even had a bit where we put on 3D glasses and the whole tunnel became a screen playing a fight between King Kong and some dinosaurs, while the bus rocked and splashed us with water. It was very immersive and very cool! 

Cars from Jurassic Park

The Ford Anglia from Harry Potter

Various Cars from various Back to the Futures

Railway Station from The Good Place

Raptor Cages

Dave, Annie and Frankie then spent the first half of the week touring the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas while we went back to work. We saw them when they came back on Wednesday evening and looked at all their pictures. We're very excited to go to Vegas in October now! They were leaving the next day, so we said our goodbyes as we won't see them until Christmas now.

On Thursday, we drove into LA to meet a friend from Mitchell's old lab in Nottingham. Nicole and her boyfriend had been touring the South West for the past week (and may have even overlapped in some locations with Mitchell's Dad) and were finishing up in LA. Because it's so close, we were able to join them for dinner at Grand Central Market and then went to the rooftop bar that was on top of their hotel. It was very cool up there as you could see loads of tall buildings all lit up, and the pool was illuminated and surrounded by fairy lights. It was great to see Nicole again and hear about their epic trip. 


We've had a pretty tiring week, but we'll be back out doing more stuff this weekend.

Until next time

Emily and Mitchell

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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