Last week I was in Anaheim, CA for RWA12, the Romance Writer’s of America’s annual national conference and it was a blast! I reconnected with friends, critique partners and fellow writers I only ‘visit’ with online. I also saw, squealed, laughed with and hugged old friends.

After arriving late on Monday,  Susan Carlisle, Debbie Kaufman and I took an early morning bus tour of the Los Angeles area with several other writers on Tuesday.

During the tour, we saw Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Hollywood sign, LaBrea Tar Pits, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, the Santa Monica pier and Venice Beach. There were numerous other sites along the route, some of which I had to snap a quick pic of through the bus window. Surprisingly, the shots turned out pretty well.

At one of our stops in the music center area, we clowned around in a “very famous” sculpture our tour guide called ‘the dancing doors.’ I smile when I write that because I’d never heard of these very famous doors (which turned out to be one door) and everything along the way was “very famous” to our guide, Salvadore. Most of us found it difficult to follow everything said due to his rather heavy hispanic accent and rapid patter, but two other phrases were uttered repeatedly in his presentation: “the fil-mes of the movie” and “Check it out.” Filming in Hollywood and L.A? What a surprise.

Being captive inside the bus and instructed by Salvadore to do so, we also checked out Sunset Blvd/Sunset Strip, Marina Del Ray, a Beverly Hills park, browsed the area around Union Station and nearby site of the first church in L.A., and enjoyed lunch at the Farmers Market. All “very famous”, of course. 😉 Along the way, we saw places Johnny Depp owned, where John Belushi died, and a famous diner used in many movies.

We didn’t get back to the Anaheim Marriott until 7:30 p.m., and that was just the first day! What followed was registration, a book signing with 100’s of authors, workshops, a massage, pizza and wine with an old friend, and…well, I’ll share those things in the days that follow.

Have you ever been to the L.A. area? If so, what did you enjoy seeing most? If not, what would top your list of things to see/do?