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LA LIVE 2005

Seven Hammerheads went to LA for the convention (arriving all on different days): Les, Kelcie and Pam Appel, Elaine Joice, Sally Leishman, Bo Dudley and Eva Yee.

We arrived Sunday night at the Manhattan Beach Marriot which was a really nice hotel for the convention. We got up early on Monday to board the bus at 9:00 a.m. for Disneyland. It was nice to see Disneyland decorated for their 50th anniversary. They had the number 50 in an outline of Mickey Mouse's face (and ears) all around the park. The wait for some of the rides wasn't too long. I think Splash Mountain and Space Mountain (which was the first time for Kelcie) were the longest ones.

The parade was great and the nighttime fireworks were out of this world! They had Disney songs playing with the fireworks. (I wished that we had the camcorder to video the fireworks.) We met everyone at 11:30 p.m. in Downtown Disney for the ride back to the hotel. The only thing that I was disappointed in was that we were so busy with the rides, parade and fireworks that I never got a chance to shop for souvenirs!

Tuesday was a tour of the pool and relaxing! Wednesday we were supposed to go to the Queen Mary and the Aquarium of the Pacific but we only had time to do one. We decided to do the Queen Mary. What a ship! It was interesting reading all about the voyages that the Queen Mary took and also how the ship was used in War time.

Wednesday night was the Pub Crawl. We left the hotel and headed towards Manhattan Beach. Our first stop was at a restaurant called Beaches where they had a nice buffet for us. Some of us tried to get outside for a picture of the sunset but the fog was starting to come in. Our next stop was at Hermosa Beach Pier. I don't remember what the name of the bar was but I know it was next to a bar called Sharkeez. (I got a picture of the bar). We stayed for awhile and then boarded the bus to Harry O's. We were there until 1:15 a.m. the next morning.

Thursday morning found Kelcie and I getting up early to catch the 7:00 a.m. bus for the trip to Catalina Island. Once we got to Long Beach, we took a boat over to Catalina Island. Once we got there, we were on our own to do whatever we wanted to do. A few of us took in a couple of tours. We took an Undersea Tour where went under water and saw a lot of different fish. The other tour that we took was called Skyline Drive. It took us on a bumpy road and we saw two buffalo, then one buffalo and then saw a whole herd of buffalo! The tour also took us to the small airport on the island.

Friday was another day of touring the pool! Then Friday night the convention started. You were supposed to dress up as your favorite movie or TV character. A lot of people were dressed up as M.A.S.H. characters. Others were dressed as Marilyn Monroe, Herman and Lily Monster, The Cheers bar characters, Grumpy and Minnie Mouse, the Henson Brothers, Belle (which was Kelcie), Miss Piggy, Star Trek characters, Darth Vader, Scarecrow, Alice in Wonderland, Elmo, Indiana Jones, and the girl from Pulp Fiction. I am sure there were plenty others but it is hard to name them all. We had a nice buffet dinner and then dancing.

Saturday morning we had a buffet breakfast followed by the general meeting. This is a meeting where all the clubs in attendance speak about what they have done in the past year. Then the representatives from Buffalo talked about what they have planned for the 2006 convention. After that Philadelphia gave their information in bidding for the 2007 convention.

Saturday night was a "Night at the Oscar's" dinner. Before the dinner they had a pre-Oscar Bash. The Kings BC had rented a limousine and everyone had their picture taken standing by the open door of the limousine or sticking out of the roof window (see pic above). It made it look like we were going to the Oscar's! After a nice sit down dinner, the Kings announcer Bob Miller spoke. Then he did a question and answer session with Marty McSorley. Marty stayed and talked, had pictures taken, and signed autographs. After that the dancing started.

Then came Sunday breakfast and saying goodbye to your old friends and the new friends that you made, and saying, "We will see you in Buffalo next year!"

I would like to thank again the LA Kings, especially Kim Southland, Debbie Kanner and Linda Rydbeck for a great convention! They did a real nice job with the program this year called the National Inquirer. We especially enjoyed the gossip columns that they had. Our own Les Appel was tying the knot in a Santa Barbara courthouse with Mira Sorvino!