Friday, June 1, 2001
Much like New Orleans, we enjoyed our stay, but definitely felt like
we left at the right time. Las Vegas, much like New Orleans, is much
too crazy to stay at for longer than 2 days (in our opinion anyway).
We packed up the car and were on the road again. There is not a whole
lot between Vegas and LA, so that makes stopping to see the world's
largest thermometer a must. When we stepped out of the car, it felt
like a blast of heat from an explosion. Luckily, we still have our
eyebrows. The World's Largest Thermometer said it was 108 degrees,
but the hotel next door said it was 118 degrees. We were inclined
to believe that it was 118.
Once we got to LA, it took us about an hour to find Rick's apt. Rick
is an old college friend of Chrysanthemum who was nice enough to let
us stay with him, his girlfriend Ashley, and their dogs Smokey and
Tallulah. We all went out to dinner that night at a local favorite
hang out.
Saturday, June 2, 2001
For lunch, the dynamic duo met up with an old college buddy of Belinda's
who is also living in LA now. We brought Zero along and had lunch
at a cute outdoor cafe. We caught up with Becky for several hours.
Afterwards, we went and saw her new apartment. From there we headed
over to Santa Monica. We saw the pier and the original Muscle Beach.
That night, Rick had invited us along to a party his friend was throwing.
Rick and Ashley had to put in an appearance somewhere else beforehand.
Luckily, Rick has very cool friends. Two of his friends that were
also going to the party were nice enough to pick us up and take us.
We hung out for a while and met several people. Rick and Ashley showed
up a little later and a good time was had by all.
Sunday, June 3, 2001
There is a farmers market near Rick and Ashley's apartment that makes
crepes on Sundays. The crepes we had in Vegas were good and we were
ready for some more. Chrysanthemum got a strawberry, banana, and whipped
cream crepe while Belinda opted for a savory crepe of turkey and cheese.
The were far better than the ones we had in Vegas and we felt very
satisfied. We shopped around the farmers market a little. Chrysanthemum
got some patches and Belinda got a rhinestone "hottie" necklace.
We went back to Rick and Ashley's and took a nap. That night we ordered
some Chinese and watched TV. It had been a while since we had just
had a quite night in front of the TV, so we enjoyed it very much.
Monday, June 4, 2001
We took a day trip down to Manhattan Beach in search of a doggie
diner we had heard of where dogs get to sit at the counter to eat.
After asking several people, including someone that worked in a vet
office, we could not find the doggie diner. Since we had brought Zero
with us, we opted for another outdoor cafe. While we were sitting
there eating, we realized that CEO/founder of one of the former clients
of our former employer was sitting next to us. The situation being
what it was, we didn't bother saying introducing ourselves and saying
hi.
When we were done eating, we hung out on the pier and watched some
beach volleyball for a while. After that, we drove down the coast
and into the hills over looking the beach. The view was beautiful
except for the smog. And there was a LOT of smog.
That night, Rick made a delicious dinner of tuna steak, wasabe mashed
potatoes, and cucumber salad. It was extremely delicious. We hadn't
had a homecooked meal in a while, so it was especially good.
Tuesday, June 5, 2001
Chrysanthemum had hoped to see Dave, another college friend, while
she was in LA. Luckily, he called right as we were packing up to leave.
We stopped by his place before we left and hung out for a while. Dave
just got back from Vietnam where is was shooting a documentary. He
showed the promo for it. We were very impressed.
Dave had to go to work, and we had to find some lunch. We were starving
and wanted to eat at an In and Out Burger (a famous burger chain in
California). After driving around Beverly Hills for an hour without
finding one, we decided to just get on the highway and see if we could
find one there. Another hour of getting to the highway and traveling
up to Burbank, we got off the highway and finally found an In and
Out Burger. It was really good, but we weren't exactly impartial at
that point. Anything would have tasted great. We stopped in Bakersfield
to stay the night. We ordered pizza and worked on the site. It was
nice and relaxing.
