Years of the Bus

15- A Day in LA

“Do you think that we’ll meet a celebrity?”

“No, Gracie, probably not,” Cory laughed at his girlfriend’s question as we all walked down the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I was walking hand in hand with Kenton while Grace and Cory were in front of us also holding hands. Gaige and Baker weren’t officially a couple yet, so they weren’t holding hands, but they were walking awkwardly close to each other as we walked.

“Wait, why not?” Erin wondered. “Isn’t LA were all of the famous people are?”

“Well yeah, but it’s a big city and I doubt that they all hang out on Hollywood Boulevard, this place is mostly for tourists, I’d imagine,” Cory explained.

“Look! There’s Jennifer Anniston!” Rosa piped, pointing down at Jennifer Anniston’s star under our feet. “Maybe she’s here, just looking at her star for the day. I know that if I had a star on the Walk of Fame, I’d just sit there all day and stare at it all of the time.”

“I don’t think celebrities do that, Rosa,” Turner laughed. “But I think that we should get some food, yes?”

“You always think that we should get some food,” I accused him as we stepped over Drew Barrymore’s star.

“Seriously Turner, we like, just had breakfast,” Baker reminded our friend. “And I really want to find the Backstreet Boys’ star more than anything in the world.”

“Food is more important than the Backstreet Boys,” Turner defended. “And it’s not like we can’t just go get some food and then come back and keep looking at the stars or something.”

“Backstreet Boys first,” Baker determined with a nod. She was very stubborn, Baker was, so everyone knew that when she did that little nod thing of hers, it was very hard to convince her to change her mind. It was either finding the Backstreet Boys or we’d have to split up, which didn’t seem like a good idea in such a big, crowded city.

“Look, there’s a food stand,” I spied, pointing just ahead where there was a food kiosk for Krispy Kreme donuts. It was only ten in the morning, so it was pretty busy with people, but I assumed that it was okay with Turner to wait in line because he really did love his food. I could go for a lemonade or something too, considering it was scorching hot outside. I felt bad for those street performers playing their guitars and acting like robots out here in the sun.

“My savior,” He grinned, running up ahead to the food stand.

“I’m just going to Google where their star is,” Baker informed us, pulling out a phone from her pocket. “I’m not going to walk around this whole thing just for this one star. It is way too hot for that.”

I got a picture with Kenton and the Walt Disney star and then I got a picture with Baker on Jane Lynch’s and Kermit the Frog’s star. There were eighteen blocks of the Walk of Fame though, combining those on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, so we obviously weren’t going to see them all. It was way too hot out here for that.

“Okay, I got it!” Baker cheered after a while.

“You got what?” I asked her, sipping on my lemonade.

“I know where the Backstreet Boys are. The address is 7072 Hollywood Boulevard. And according to the phone, we’re going in the right direction,” She informed us.

“This is so much fun,” Sydney sighed. “And exciting. I didn’t even know that Bob Barker had a star.”

“Along with Big Bird,” Logan chirped, pointing down as he walked over Big Bird’s star.

“Neil Patrick Harris!” Erin squealed, pointing at his star in the short distance. I had no idea how she could see that and be able to read it as his star, but when we got up to it, she was right- it was Neil Patrick Harris. Erin dropped to her knees on the sidewalk and I assume that it was scorching hot, but she seemed to not care because she started rubbing the star like a crazy person. “Guys, look at this! Just think about it- Neil Patrick Harris was right here. He touched this star with his own hands and he smiled here with Jason Segal and David Burtka. He stood here, I can still feel the imprint of his shoe. You guys, why aren’t you excited?”