Universal Studios Trip and Midweek Concert in Hollywood

Never have I ever...gone to a concert on a weekend. Seriously!
The best concerts always seem to fall on a random weekday, never conveniently on the weekend. I guess musicians value their Saturdays too. Instead of fighting it, we embraced the opportunity to see Durand Jones and the Indications on a Tuesday last fall, which meant a spontaneous five hour drive down the California coast to Los Angeles. Road trip!

Now, I am not an enthusiastic road-tripper. I'd rather sit in an airport lobby than in a car. If the scenery is beautiful, then great. But if the drive is boring, you better at least have good snacks.
To make the loooong trip worthwhile, we packed our two-day LA itinerary from top to bottom:
- A full day at Universal Studios Hollywood and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
- Yellow curry and glass noodles from Palms Thai Restaurant
- Concert at Hollywood Palladium on Sunset Boulevard
- Cajun chicken and Nutella waffles from & Waffles
- Boba tea (of course) from Tiger Sugar
- And savory grilled meats from Quarters Korean BBQ in Koreatown
First stop, Universal Studios!

I didn't grow up watching The Simpsons, but even I know about Homer's iconic pink sprinkle donut from Lard Lad Donuts. We couldn't pass it up!

The Universal Studios twist: it's GIGANTIC!
In case you're wondering, the icing tasted like vanilla. Yummy.

The Lard Lad Donut Shop is one of many fine eateries within Springfield, where the Simpsons live. We walked through the larger-than-life cartoon cities of Simpsons Plaza and Krustyland on our way to the studio tour buses that drove us around the Universal backlot buildings.