Griffith Park Train Ride At Travel Town - Remembering John Ritter / Forest Lawn Memories & Thoughts
Griffith Park 2023
Transcript
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welcome everyone Adam Lew here as the
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recording of this it is Monday
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the 11th of September 2023 you see in
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the reflection of my glasses the
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Hollywood Hills ride over there
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I am checking out of the hotel I've been
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staying at for the last series of days
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and going down to another one in a
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different County
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Orange County
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to be more technical southbound about 30
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miles down
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freeway here
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and on the way I'm going to be stopping
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by a couple of spots
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not really in a rush to get down there
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there's the Hollywood Hills that you can
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see in the Reflection from one hotel to
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another one County to another but I am
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still
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in Southern California
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for a little bit longer actually more
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than a little bit longer for well for a
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while longer
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I'm inviting you
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as always to join me
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challenge I have now made the very short
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commute
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over to Griffith Park Drive gonna do
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some Griffith Park stuff
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a few things I want to showcase here
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one just so happens to be a really good
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spot that is free admission
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I have a favorite little local spot of
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mine when I used to live here I'd pop in
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here on occasion
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whenever I'd have guests in town people
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visiting family and friends I'd bring
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them here Travel Town
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their hours are ten to five Monday
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through Friday and also 10 to 5 on
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weekends and holidays so pretty much ten
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to five every day and the best thing
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about this is there is no admission
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whatsoever parking is free
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admission is free
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just show up and enjoy some some trains
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and travel vehicles
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you hear the freeway going by
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and I also just heard a train so
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evidently the miniature train the small
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train is running that will probably have
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an admission fee
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but I might do that
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it's a little placard over here on this
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rock
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dedicated to preserving for posterity
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the various types of Transportation
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equipment that help build the state and
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the nation
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perfect timing
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since the last time I was here they've
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added a new virtual tour called The
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Whistle Stop tour look for the signs I
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just scanned that
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and it says that is also free you can
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use it on my phone
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and you know I believe this might be the
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first time that I've been back to Travel
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Town since I have visited San Francisco
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I've been to San Francisco twice I've
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been to Oakland a couple times as well
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but San Francisco the city
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twice and this might be the first time
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that now I know what I'm looking at when
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it comes to the car here
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this is an old San Francisco
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Trolley Street car
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and I absolutely screwed that up it's a
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cable car
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it's a cable car
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so many modes of transportation
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sometimes I say the wrong thing a cable
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car car one of the famed San Francisco
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cable cars the first Cable Car operated
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in 1873
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this one is not that old but definitely
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has seen
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some years so
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from the city of San Francisco and now
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sitting here in Griffith Park
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weather worn
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I've beaten up a little bit
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and if you don't have a smartphone which
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most people do there's also little
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placards here with the information as
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well
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so the artist Casey Macon
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created the Casey Jones sculpture
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create a lasting tribute to a very brave
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and heroic figure from America's
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railroad past
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one hand was left on the air brake and
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one hand was left on the whistle cord
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that says the Melody Ranch special
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right there on the front 1986.
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that's either the locomotive number or
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the date stamp
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do not climb on top of you can go
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through them they do have
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they have these little stairways that
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you can go inside of some of them but do
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not climb on the top or onto the side or
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underneath any of the trains or exhibit
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they also have
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facilities and a gift shop and
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no smoking Southern Pacific number 30.
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and it's nice here because you can walk
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across
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the railroad here
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something you usually can't do and
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shouldn't do
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it's open railroads but here
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you can you can walk along the tracks
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here
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number 3025 this thing is
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really large
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especially once you get up inside here
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and just see the dimensions of it
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it's ready to sit right here
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to lean out the window
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and get the view down the tracks
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very convenient stairwells here
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not a lot of people out here today
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which was nice the weekends
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I've been here before years ago on a
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weekend and it was really busy
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this floor is that creaking
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I can't go past this point though
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do not enter there go back down the
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stairs
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facing the property
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Max penalty of 500 dollars
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six months in jail 500 does not seem
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extreme enough
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for destroying something though it's
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just I don't know my opinion
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I guess you add in the other penalty
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that might might be a deterrent
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got the train sitting still here and
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then you got one row of traffic going
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through Griffith Park here
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motorcycle and then you got the freeway
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over there going at an even quicker pace
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I like this big awning that they have
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built here to
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shield from the elements from the Sun
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and the rain
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and a shade here
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I don't have the place to myself but
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definitely plenty of Elbow Room
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very relaxing Monday continuing the tour
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there on my phone
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the Whistle Stop tour
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it says that this was delivered to
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Travel Town in 1956 so you can get info
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on when all of these were delivered and
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used
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so it was built in 1881
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that's pretty fascinating
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used to build the subway tunnel in LA
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and also help rebuild San Francisco
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after one of their big fires
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all this history right off the freeway
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most people probably pass by this and I
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even realize it's tucked away in here
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now according to their site this was
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called The Little Nugget it was built in
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1937 was a dining car and a who's who
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of Hollywood royalty a mini a dinner on
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here Bob Hope Cecil B Demille George
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Burns among others
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it's the oldest train here on site it
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was built in 1864.
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for Mariposa
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it's like the Disneyland train right I
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would imagine there's a pretty good
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tie-in
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with the style of this train and Walt
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considering the studios were right
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across the street
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Park is just so awesome there's just so
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much to do so many interesting little
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let's say hidden gems but just gyms
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nonetheless
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oh is that a skunk above number 56 the
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conductor the driver there
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got a little hat on it's a skunk
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oh I'm gonna scan this see what it says
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the term you know the reason the
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mascot's on the side there the painting
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the term was used because these back in
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the day would take passengers and cargo
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from point A to point B and
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the slogan was or the saying was that
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you could smell them before you could
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see them
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hits the skunk
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interesting I learned a lot from the
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info they have on their site
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I'm paraphrasing but yeah
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the t2 signal
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type of signal was created in 1912. for
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fighting moving blades for daytime
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identification and color lights for
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night time
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identification that's it right up there
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be track smart
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clear proceed
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halfway down approach all the way down
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stop miniature railroad track painted on
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the ground down here and
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here's another car here
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take a look at this this is a little
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more open
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than the other one was as far as like
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open air I should say okay this is a
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train car a trolley car like a trolley
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car
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yeah
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I think I'm gonna board the miniature
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Shrine I think there's an emission price
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for that
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all right it was four dollars and they
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gave me this card
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and they said every tenth punch you get
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a free ride so they'll have a little
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indentation there
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on the side of it 75 years it must be
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the anniversary and over here got the
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old ticket booths
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I go all the way to the back
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back row it's always the more thrilling
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okay so that's how it is on coasters
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this is gonna be the same no matter
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where you sit
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but I like to sit here because then you
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can get those long turn bins
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and turns the corner maybe I get some
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good angles or not
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I just said we're going to San Jose
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California
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trains trains everywhere well not
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everywhere but here
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there's the train horn I was thinking it
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was gonna happen last time
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completing the second
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full circle score
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little whistle here at the stop possibly
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they usually do on all trains
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and
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no whistle at the end
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Melody Ranch special
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inside the exhibit hall now
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you don't climb or touch the equipment
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no travel towns not just trains you got
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other vehicles modes of transportation
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like classic cars
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but mostly shrines now I knew there was
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an episode of Columbo a video I did a
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few years ago I showed that
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I did not realize the bionic woman in
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The Waltons were filmed out here
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now I'm curious which episode of Andy
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Griffith Show was used a travel town
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that's pretty cool
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and a bunch of other ones
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but yeah classics
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Bionic Woman Colombo Andy Griffith Show
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that is awesome
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covered all the Andy Griffith spots in
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the first five seasons but when Don
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Knotts left
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I kind of stopped watching and never
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covered any of those locations so I
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would guess it was probably in the post
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Don Knotts here for years
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those weren't those weren't the best
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years for The Andy Griffith Show
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just my personal opinion they also have
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some wagons this one used to be on
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display it looks like it used to be at
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Knott's Berry Farm but a piano box buggy
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I could see that fitment in knots
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delivery
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vehicle over here California's favorite
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dry food since 1905. the Golden State
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number 26. it's a travel town
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not been picked up from the side of the
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road they were selling flowers so got
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one of the street vendors
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the side of the road bought some flowers
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heading over
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just up the way here
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a couple blocks away about a half mile
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away mile away
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Drew up the side of the Hill farther
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into Griffith Park
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see the Disney Studios down there you
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see the ABC Studios
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and Forest Lawn I don't believe I've
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ever seen anything like this a headstone
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like this
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when I was driving up at the park
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I've been here a number of times
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especially when I lived here I would
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stop off here occasionally
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John Ritter is a big part of my life
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I guess to remember the
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getting the news I worked at Office Max
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when he passed
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it's hard to believe that today
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20 years
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148 passed on this day
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11th of September 2003 20 years to the
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day two decades
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he has working at Office Max
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I believe it was a little later in the
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evening when
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Elisa came over the radio I hadn't heard
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me obviously that was
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not in real time so possibly it was
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delayed by a couple hours I don't
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remember the exact hour of the day
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better get the news so I went into work
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later that afternoon that evening
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to the evening hours I remember my boss
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came up he goes did you just hear that I
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said did you say John Ritter
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there are some flowers here but I
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believe that is a different
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spot
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yeah I love Three's Company Three's
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Company is my all-time favorite sitcom
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and we do like a lot of comedies with
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sitcoms but something about Three's
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Company just resonated with me seen
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every episode
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many many times
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John Ritter also opened he did the grand
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opening of what is now Hollywood Studios
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Disney's MGM Studios
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he was up on the earful Water Tower and
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he also did the grand opening of the
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living Seas at Epcot so big tie-in to
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Disney
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Three's Company eight simple rules of
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course Problem Child
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just so many
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now tomorrow so as a recording of This
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is the 11th tomorrow I believe Johnny
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Cash
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will be the 20th anniversary
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of his passing as well
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I have to admit John Ritter hit me a
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little harder than Johnny Cash I love
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Johnny Cash's music but something about
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John Ritter just not being
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you know on the earth and getting that
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news
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even still it just it kind of blows my
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mind a little bit
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kind of like Jim Varney him and Jim
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Varney were on the same wavelength with
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me with Nostalgia and growing up and
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the people that I entertainers that I
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was that I enjoyed watching and was
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inspired by and heroes if you will you
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know is when it came to entertainment
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speaking of comedians Stan Laurel's
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right over here too
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pretty close to John
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well at least this placard is
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wife and Aunt down here
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yeah John Ritter I mean obviously Stan
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Lore Master of Comedy
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really John Ritter was such a great
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physical comedian
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and his father Tex Ritter
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very popular country star
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in fact
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Country Bear Jamboree Big Al when he
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sings Blood on the saddle which they
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just announced at a recent Disney event
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that they were going to be changing the
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songs and getting rid probably that one
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and among other some of the original
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country bear Jamberry songs so when Big
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Al comes out and sings The Blood on the
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saddle song Big Al's voice is John
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Ritter's father Tex Ritter that is the
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actual recording that they took that was
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not written for the attraction they just
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used it
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so that's what you're hearing as Big Al
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John Ritter's dad Tex Ritter sang the
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big
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fun fact and it's going to be gone so
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get rid of it
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Yeah country bears is changing
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everything Disney's changing all kind of
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stuff okay none you can do about it
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anymore and here at the very top of the
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property oh there's a squirrel right
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there
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look at that squirrel
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kind of tough to see him he's climbing
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up that wall
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is this mural
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God gave us Liberty and people who
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forsake God lose their Liberty quoted by
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the founder Stand Fast therein the
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Liberty we're in
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Christ has made us free
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obviously was another
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another event that should be
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remembered as well
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I think everyone who was alive at that
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point knows where they were on that day
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as well
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watching it on TV my parents house
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I just woke up
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and the girl I was dating at that time I
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talked to her on the phone she told me
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on the phone turned the TV on
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and looking back on that the fact that
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that was 22 years ago
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this really is a
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fantastic mural here
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Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills there's two
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Forest Lawns this is the Hollywood
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Hollywood Hills one
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packed right up there you can see the
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Tower of the side
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on the Hollywood side
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so this would be more or less the
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Burbank side of the Hollywood side of
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Griffith Park would be the Hollywood
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side so Hollywood's over there and the
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sign is just right over the cusp of that
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berm there the top of the mountain
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so they don't want you leaving the
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flowers out more than us
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a pillow deer they don't want you
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putting too many flowers out there
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saying don't leave more than three
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things
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because the deer will eat the flowers