Andy and Hawkeye

As I believe I have mentioned, I'm in Southern California, probably for the last time. There just won't be any reason for me to go back. There are a lot of things here, but I done them and some for multiple times. So, is there anything left for me to do? Yes, I found a couple things.

I heard that where they filmed the outdoor scenes of M*A*S*H could be found. All the indoor shots were filmed on some Hollywood soundstage, but the outdoor scenes were in a So Cal park that apparently has some resemblance to Korea. It meant a forty-five minute drive then a three mile hike. So, a bit of a challenge, but I'm up to it. It was pretty warm and it took a while, but I'm going to say it was worth it. M*A*S*H (I'm getting tired of these asterisks) was on quite a while ago, so it isn't in pristine condition. Obviously, the sets are gone, but there were a couple of rusted out ambulances they left there. Of course the hills are still there, so you can imagine the helicopters flying in and the theme to M*A*S*H playing. (Which someone actually played on here phone while we were there. Nice.)

I can't say it was the most fun I've ever had, but pretty cool. Afterwards we went to the Griffith Park Observatory. We were there the one day of the week the building itself was closed, but that's fine. The main thing is the cool views of L.A. and the Hollywood sign. I remember scenes there from a James Dean movie (East of Eden, maybe?) and La La Land. Its probably been in others.

On a separate day we went to another park - this one not as far away. It's where they filmed the opening scene of the Andy Griffith Show. If you aren't getting excited right now, I won't try to convince you otherwise, although shame on you. This is the coolest thing ever. It is the scene where Andy and Opie are walking in the woods and then Opie runs up and throws a rock in the lake. (Which I hear that he couldn't do, so an guy behind a tree had to actually throw the rock to get it to splash in the lake.) I had heard it looks a lot different now. It really doesn't. It seems surprisingly the same. The lake is lower and they moved in a couple picnic tables, but otherwise the same. After many pictures, videos, and recreations of the scene we called it a day.

I think I can milk one more blog post out of my time here, then as in the Billy Joel song, its "Say Goodbye to Hollywood".