Mini-Road Trip: California

I recently returned from a week-long vacation to California. It was my first visit to California and surprising, it was not as warm as I thought that it would be. Temperatures hovered around the mid-60s and when we did make it to the beach, the water there was very cold. Still, the trip was a nice and mellow one and rather than give you an extensive list of all the things that we did, I’ll provide a few details in 10 bullet points of what I remember most clearly. Of course, the ultimate highlight was spending a week catching up with friends but as we all know, its all about the experience:

1. I have a rule about street/subway performances: if it’s entertaining, I will give a dollar; more if I love it. But a smart aleck-y, annoying street performer at the Walk of Stars almost made me want to take my dollar back. After his ragtag group did a little dancing, the self-proclaimed “little Mexican” proceeded to whine and curse his audience, probably hoping to shame us out of more of our money. Well, that didn’t work in the least (the audience dispersed fairly quickly) but he was funny and it was entertaining watching him try to run game on us.
2. Again at the Walk of Stars, a man came up to me and asked me to buy him a beer. Shouldn’t he be offering to buy me a drink?
3. Realizing how truly tiny the feet of some of Hollywood’s leading men really are was a snickering moment. Unfortunately, I can’t think of any names at this time.
4. Being locked out of the place where we were staying in Redondo Beach and sitting in our car waiting for our host because we selected the wrong house keys was not very fun. Admittedly, there were three of us so we probably should have gotten it right but in our collective defense, the directions were misleading.
5. Being advised not to order the fish cakes by our waitress at a Thai restaurant was a first for me. Of course, Thai Elvis is the premiere form of entertainment so the fish cakes are not the only things that are fishy about the Palms Restaurant.
6. My friends and I were referred to as “light, brown, and dark” by an overweight, middle-aged white man at the beach. No comment on that one.
7. We spent a lot of time eating at various restaurants but Broadway Grill, which featured Motown Mondays, was one of the better ones. The food was so-so but the entertainment was what made this place great. Of course, we kept the party going in our little corner after the band wrapped up their set.
8. Being splashed, several times, during our whale watching tour (where we didn’t see any whales and few other sea creatures during our 2 hours plus boat ride). We were too lazy to move from our perch and we ended up serving as entertainment for our fellow passengers.
9. Being pulled over by the cops after we made an illegal left turn was mildly exciting. It wasn’t completely our fault and we got off without a ticket but that cop in California is the nicest one I’ve ever encountered.
10. Pebbly sand and cold water are what I now think about when I think about California beaches

Things we learned from our experience:
A road trip throughout California is not easily achieved in a week; expect lots of driving.
A free breakfast is the best breakfast i.e. stay at Embassy Suites

*pictures featuring the beautiful scenery and places we visited will follow shortly*