eustilly's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hippies, Hong Kong, and \"Hazaah!\" Finally, the summary of my California adventure! I present to you...Part One! Friday, March 12: I rolled into LA at around 11:30pm. Surprisingly, I wasn't too tired, so Kevo took me to this cool pizza place where I had a slice of eggplant, avocado, feta, and sausage pizza. Trust me-- it's delicious! Then it was off to have some sleepy time! Kevo lives in Studio City, which is two blocks from Universal Studios. We also had a great view of some big houses in the hills. And he lived a street away from Venture Blvd, so everytime we hit it, I started singing Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'" ("All the vampires walkin' through the valley/move west down Ventura Blvd..."). P.S. I also saw Reseda and Mulholland Dr.-- also mentioned in the song. Saturday, March 13: We got up pretty early to walk to Universal Studios (he lives very close to it) and get Leno tickets. They had recently stopped selling them there, so no luck. But we did stumble across one of those pearl jewelers where you pick your own oyster. Mine had a big gold pearl in it, but I wanted a white one. I added it to a white gold setting and it was beautiful. Yippee! We headed out to Leo Carrillo State Park for rock/cliff climbing along the coastline. There were tiny tide pools with urchins and starfish and seaweed-- all very beautiful. Hunger struck so we took Highway 1 (AKA Pacific Coast Highway) to Malibu where we feasted at Gladstone's. Yum! After stuffing ourselves silly, we drove to the Santa Monica Pier. With Kevin on roller blades and me on his bike, we rode all the way to Venice Beach where we perused all the hippie shops set up along the way. I bought some tiny cartoonish clay creatures-- a snail, a turtle, and two ladybugs-- from this dude for $10. We headed home and later caught dinner at Ernie's Mexican Restaurant. Sunday, March 14: Road trip! We headed for Las Vegas in the AM and got there at around 3pm. On the way there, we passed through San Dimas (Socrates loves San Dimas), and I couldn't resist calling Chris the Sis to tell her. We laughed a long while about that one, and ended the phone conversation with, "Be excellent to each other." Ha! We stayed at Excalibur (in the jacuzzi suite!) but we didn't stay in any one place for very long. We headed to the Boardwalk so I could learn Craps at a $5 table. I played that (loved it!) and Blackjack, but I did the best at Video Poker. I turned a 100% profit...then spent it on bottled water. We did get to see a white tiger at the Mirage, the water show in front of the Bellagio, and other various kitschy things. I didn't last as long as I had hoped. I didn't want to be broke by day three, so I just went to bed at 1 or 2am. Monday, March 15: Road trip! Off to San Francisco! Boy what a beautiful drive! Mountains, hills, big metal windmills, and cows and sheep. Simply gorgeous. We arrived at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, located at Union Square, at around 7 or 8pm. We took a trolley (ding-ding!) to the wharf and watched the sea lions bark and bite each other for a while. Then we walked to the Stinking Rose, an all garlic restaurant, and sat by the window. We had a great view of the busy nightlife of San Francisco as we ate garlic, garlic, and more garlic. (Fragrant!) We walked through China Town on our way to the hotel. As it turned out, the top floor (21st) was the Starlight Room. I felt like one of the Rat Pack. There were round, plush, red velvet booths, waitresses in formal wear, a 360-degree panoramic view of the city, jazz band, etc...and all just 5 or so floors above us! We kept joking that the singer, whose name is Rich, reminded us of Eddie Money. Kevo thought I should have screamed, "Hey Eddie! 'Take Me Home Tonight!'" But Eddie would have thought I meant it as a request, and I don't mean for his hit song. *wink wink* Stay tuned for Part Two: The Tourist, The Arcade Junkie, Death from Above, Irish Punk, On the List, and "Brains!" 4:02 pm - 03.29.04 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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