Hiking to the Hollywood Sign

Huntington Beach, CA

The day after Christmas dawned with overcast skies and wind.  But the forecast was for clearing skies by noon, so we headed up I-405 to get an up close view of the famous Hollywood sign.

A hiking web site provided us with directions to a good hiking trail at the end of Beechwood Drive.  After finding a place to park (which was a bit difficult), we headed up the trail.

This isn’t really a trail, it is more a narrow road.  Part of it was dirt, but it was mainly a paved road leading above the sign to a communication tower on top of the hill.

The lower dirt section of the trail

The trail winds up the hillside

At the top of the hill you are treated to a great view of Los Angeles to the south, and beautiful downtown Burbank (remember the old Laugh-In show) to the north.

Downtown LA with the Hollywood sign in the foreground

All that hiking gave us an appetite, so upon returning to the Huntington Beach area we did a very bad thing.  Many people told us to be sure and visit an In and Out Burger Restaurant while in California, so we felt compelled to comply.  The burgers didn’t impress us all that much, so this may be our only visit.

One of the other “bad” places we wanted to visit was on Jessica’s list of places to see.   Sprinkles was founded in 2005 by Candace Nelson, a judge on the Food Network Channel’s show Cupcake Wars.

A local surfer girl enjoys a treat after a long day riding the waves

A sign on the wall inside

Tomorrow looks like an exercise day as we try to work off all the calories from the burgers, fries, and cupcakes. More on that later . . .