eustilly's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Punks, Pagodas, and Parachutes Okay, Cali adventure continued! Here's Part Two: Punks, Pagodas, and Parachutes. Tuesday, March 16: Kevo had scheduled us a tour San Fran at 10am. It took us everywhere! I took fabulous pictures of everything. I am particularly proud of my Golden Gate Bridge photos, and the ones I took of the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. We saw the "Full House" opening sequence park (admit it-- you KNOW what I'm talking about). The driver was full of interesting tidbits. We passed one of the only houses with a backyard, and the driver says, "He just sold his backyard for $2 million so a guy can build a house there." It wasn't that big, so we asked how they could fit a house in that lot. "Oh, the minimum space required between houses is one inch." What?!? Crazy! So a roach can pass between houses the two houses, but a dog can't. The bus went on a lot of small roads, too. It went by the stables hidden near the GG Bridge, back behind Palmer's golf course, and up Panoramic Dr. There we visited Twin Peaks, and at the top you could see all of the city in a breathtaking view. I took pictures of the horizon, and it took me seven frames to get it all in...and that doesn't included the back part of the city. I'll have to post some of my fave pictures on here. The tour ended at the Wharf, where I took some pictures of the sea lions and Alcatraz. (The Alcatraz tour was over 3 hours long, so we opted not to go.) We walked back to our hotel, stopping along the way to have a yummy gyro. We weren't sure what to do that night, so we chose to visit the Metreon. (Make sure to visit the website and see all the rad stuff I got to do.) My fave part was the Monday night special in Portal One-- two hours of unlimited arcade games for $10! They had a special Retro Arcade inside it that had Frogger, Pacman, Galaga, original Street Fighter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Centipede, Contra, etc. We also played HyperBowl�, which, in many ways, is as much fun as real bowling! Kevo beat me at bowling, but I kicked his ass at air hockey, so it's all okay. We exhausted ourselves out playing all night, so we ended the evening with dinner at the Far East in Chinatown. Afterwards, we crashed into bed. Wednesday, March 17: Not only was it St. Patrick's Day, but it was definitely the best day of the trip. We woke up rather early and drove to Byron, CA. First of all, it looked like Ireland with its rolling emerald hills. But these hills had huge white industrial windmills, which added a nice contrast to it. Secondly, Byron is the home to Bay Area Skydiving. That's right-- I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane! I wasn't very nervous while signing the five page waiver or getting my ten minutes worth of instruction. In fact, I was more worried about my contacts bothering me or other lame things like that. I had asked them what their worse casualty was-- 3 years ago, someone twisted their ankle because they didn't land like they were told to do. Not a bad track record, right? It was just me and Kevo jumping that day...plus the two people strapped to our asses. Vick was my guy, and he kicks ass. He let me direct our parachute. (Be sure to visit their events page. You'll get a good idea of what kind of characters the jumpers are. Ex. May 9: Throw Momma from the Plane - $150 Tandems for Moms) Anywho, it was all over so quickly. I remember chatting while crammed into the tiny Cessna 200, then the door was opened and all this hard wind hit me at 85 mph. That's when I started internally freaking: "What am I doing? I'm crazy! I could die!" We had to inch over to the edge of the plane, which is impossible to do with someone strapped to your legs and all. We rolled out, flipped around, and started our thrilling bellyflop to the ground. Here's what I discovered during my 37 second freefall: 1.) It's hard to breathe when air is rushing by your nostrils at 100mph. That night, Kevo surprised me with Jimmy Kimmel Live tickets. Guests list included Regis Philbin, Kathy Griffin, Keith Barry (an Irish brainwasher), Dicky Barrett from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and the Dropkick Murphys! Yay for Irish punk bands from Boston! The theater it's in (El Capitan Entertainment Center) is right across the street from the Chinese Theatre (hand prints) and the Kodak Theatre (Oscars). We had to wait in line outside for awhile in order to get a good seat (I can't remember whose star we stood on), but as it turned out, once inside, it didn't matter how early you got there. It all depended on how "good" you looked. They took the typical "beautiful" people, the overly Irish folks, and a dude in a kilt and put them in the front few rows. Where did Kevo and I get to sit? Second row, baby! Because of the seashell layout of the seats, there wasn't anyone sitting in front of me. So during every commercial break, Regis and I could make eye contact. And we actually did a couple of times. He was about 4-5 strides from me! After the guest portion was over, we ran out to the band area and got on the 2nd row for that as well. It was a great show. Kevo TiVo'ed it and gave me a copy. Later that night we went to an Irish pub around the corner from Kevo's place-- Fox & Hounds. (Same name as my fave bar in Montgomery!) We only stayed for a while because the bar was trying to kick some folks out, but we had fun while it lasted. Thursday, March 18: Ah, another beautiful day...except that once you move from Studio City to Santa Monica, the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees. I was in shorts when we ate at Zankou Chicken in SC (yummy!), but once we hit the SM Pier, brrrrr! Luckily, we found shelter in the form of an arcade. Ha, we're video game junkies! This time, we tried our luck at Skee Ball. We managed to win enough tickets to buy two green army men and a tiny, pink, plastic airplane. Our loot was probably worth $0.60, but we spent at least $5 on the damn machines. Why does logic escape you when you're playing games like that? Do they really make you more stupid? After freezing our asses off and consuming a churro, we hopped back in the car and went home. We watched some "South Park" and "Dave Chappelle" and then got ready for the night's big event-- Gin Blossoms at the Key Club! A band called Clear Static opened up for them, and they were pretty good. But oh man, Gin Blossoms rocked so much ass. It was so good to see them back together (minus Phil). We were right up front, and every time Robin sang on the edge of the stage, I had his crotch right in my face. Nice! And then when he AND Scotty were right there, well, double treat for me. He gave the tambourine to Kevo at one point, and Kevo handed it to me because he knew it meant more to me. How sweet! Oh man-- such a great show. Their new stuff was pretty decent, too! After the show, we ate at this pizza place called Frankie and Johnny's. Yum. Kevo's coworker was having a party at this place called Barfly. It was a total ghetto bar by any of Alabama's standards, but it was amazing how different and harmonized it was in L.A. I liked watching the bling roll up-- Escalades, stereos, and rims...oh my! We had a great time-- we danced a lot, had a very expensive beer, and just hung out. We went home at around 1am. Lame-os. Friday, March 19: Last full day of California good-times! Hmm, let's see if I can remember what the morning held for us. We went to the Farmer's Market/Grove for lunch. There were so many tasty treats to try! Kevo and I ended up buying 4 bags of dried/candied fruit to munch on, after stuffing our faces with seafood. As we walked through the aisles, we almost bumped into two people. Now, you can call me a liar all you want, but I stand by my conviction that it was Christina Aguilera...and here's why. She was short, petite, orange like an Oompa-Loompa, and had stud piercings on her face. Her hair was also mangy black and blond and she had a trucker hat on. She was with a boy who looked like that backup dancer she's been dating. (Needless to say, I read up on my US Weekly.) So there you have it. I almost walked right into Christina Aguilera. Now back to that candy we were eating. Pineapple rings, strawberries, cranberries, and blueberries. Yum! On our way back to the car, I got suckered into buying a nail care kit that makes your hard dead skin all shiny. In reality, he was the sucker. I talked him into selling it at half price to me. Ha! Sucker!!! Moving on--> Next was the LaBrea Tar Pits. Did you guys see the movie Volcano? I got to see the sinking mammoths. w00t! Kevo took my picture hugging a dinosaur that was about the size of a bear on his hind legs. They looked like armadillo/sloth/bear/aardvark things. I think I named them Phillip and Frank...or was it Phil and Ted? I dunno. They were cool. I think the highlight of the hour, though, was when Kevo convinced me we should roll down a big hill. So we did. Did you know your pants can do a 180 on you while your legs are in place? I know-- very cool! Itchy, grassy, and stinky, we went back to Kevo's place to clean up. That night we had dinner with his folks. His mom made chicken and veggies, and apple crumb pie for dessert. Yummy! It was the first time I had met his dad, but I had forgotten that fact and hugged him anyway. Nice people, those folks. We left shortly after dessert to meet Kevo's friends Andrew and Kris for Dawn of the Dead. I thought that for a remake in the 21st century, it was pretty good. I laughed, got disgusted, related to characters (poor Andy!), and had a grand old time. Andrew and Kris were cool kids. That night was bittersweet. Packing up was no fun, but we had such a great week together that we couldn't stop smiling. Saturday, March 20 (AKA D-Day): My flight was leaving at 2 or 3pm, so there wasn't much time to do anything. We packed up the car, drove to Orange County (the O.C.!), and did a quick drive-by of Chapman University where Kevo went to school. We ate at the Red Robin (oh, why don't we have these in AL?) and then went to the airport. It was weird and sad. I hate goodbyes. I didn't want to go, but I hated having Kevo linger too much because it made me even more depressed. So he left, I left...and I was in Alabama again. *cue sad weepy music* 12:35 pm - 05.03.04 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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