Hollywood Halloween 2012

Half Written by Maree Shogren

We went to Los Angeles for Halloween this year. Maree is a huge Halloween freak and I like it too so we went to visit my friend Jimmy Gordon. We had a great time. LA is a fun place when you have someone who knows where all the cool stuff is.

We went to Griffith Park Observatory, which was a lot cooler than I expected, with great views of the city and some nice trail hiking.

Views from the Observatory.

We just happened to be there the weekend of Son of Monsterpalooza, a kind of trade show/exhibition for people in the special effects industry. It was really cool and really gross at times too. Maree got some nifty demon toys.

 This guy was totally fake.

The baby didn't wake up.

I was able to see the creator.

There were a lot of good effects artists that made things like this.

We went to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. They take the whole park and turn it into a bunch of haunted houses with different themes. One of them goes through the sets from the 'Psycho' and 'War of the Worlds' and there are zombies everywhere threatening to come after you. At one point there was a zombie with his guts hanging out and we got squirted with some sort of liquid. Nice ick factor. Maree was scared to death during most of it but it made for great entertainment for Jimmy and his friends.

The Bates House

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

La Llorena

 Silent Hill

We also made a trip to the La Brea Tar Pits. It was pretty neat. I thought we would have to drive off somewhere but it is weirdly in the middle of the city. The tar pits are all over the place, and still very active.

 Fun to fly through.

This is a sculpture area of hanging rubber tubing like you would use for a needle.

I need to find one of these.

This is an large abandoned neighborhood project by the beach.

Some cool scenery from the initial plane flight on the way back.

You can see wind farms under the clouds on the right.