The first day we were in Los Angeles we headed up to Six Flags Magic Mountain. In the 6 hours we were there we only got onto four roller coasters, and we got on the first two within the first hour. What was the big hold up you ask? There was a coaster there called "X". This roller coaster was by far the best roller coaster that either one of us had ever been on, including a straight vertical drop. The cars in the coaster moved independently of the tracks, so you could flip over while heading in the direction of the track. It made for a wild ride.
Day 2 - The Hollywood Highlife
Here are Valerie and I enjoying the good life at Hollywood's famous "The Standard". Apparently, this is where all the stars go when they are visiting the area. We sat out by the pool for a while and I got my haircut at their in-house barbershop. I was the only straight man in the barbershop when I got my haircut, and getting me to be around or hang around with gay people became a theme for Todd during the trip. This was up to and including the assertion that I must be gay because this made me uncomfortable.
Surfing
After "The Standard" we headed out to Venice Beach for a little surfing. The waves were really small, so there wasn't much to do but ride a few waves in. Valerie even got out on the boggie-board for a few sets. Venice beach was the big tourist trap beach in the area, and was full of people and carnival type attractions.
Jimmy Kimmel Show
After surfing, we showered up and went to the Jimmy Kimmel Show in the heart of Hollywood. We had great seats and were even on TV for about .005 seconds and took up maybe .003% of the screen. We saw Christine Taylor from Dodgeball and Father Guido Sarduchi interviewed, as well as Kanye West interviewed and performing. It was fun to see the show. They are tape delayed by 1 hour, but still film as if it is live, and it was entertaining to watch what all goes into making the show go off without a hitch.
Day 3 - Shopping
Stacy, Valerie and I headed off to Melrose Avenue for a little shopping on Day 3. The highlights were a shop we went into a shop that had a bunch of t-shirts with interesting sayings on them, and some of the specialty shops. This picture shows Valerie shopping in a store that only sells necklaces. Valerie got a cool pair of sandals there, and I picked up a couple of hip-hop CDs from some of the street pedlars who claimed to be the performers on the CDs.
Party Time
Later that night Todd and Stacy threw a kegger in our honor. It was good to see some friends that I hadn't seen for years who had moved to the area including Brook Wager and Jeremy Stahl. We drank and were merry. Some of Todd's co-workers took the Playa Rap Test and did quite well. I also enjoyed when my brother (Todd) drank too much and decided to play fight with Brook Wager. Todd and Stacy have a good group of friends and co workers and we all had a good time.
2 in the Morning: No Fat Burger
A famous line from Ice Cube's hit "A Good Day" reads, "no helicopter looking for the murder, 2 in the morning got the fat burger." As a result of being a fan of this song, I felt the need to acquire a Fat Burger at 2am myself. Much to my dismay, upon arrival I learned that Fat Burger closes at about 11pm, every day but Friday. On Fridays however it is open until 2am, so even though I didn't get the fat burger I learned something about Ice Cube's song that is not in the lyrics. Ice Cubes good day MUST have taken place on a Friday.
Day 4- Chinatown
A-chang-a-chang-chang A-chang-a-chang-chang-chang. Welcome to Chinatown! Despite a mild hangover, Todd, Stacy, Valerie and I headed into Chinatown. Chinatown in L.A. is very different from Chinatown in New York. We started out by having lunch at the restaurant that was used in Rush Hour. It was a true Chinese Restaurant, offering dishes made with Jellyfish and fried oysters. We then headed into the heart of Chinatown. Instead of being greeted with fake watches and pirated DVDs, there was a lot of authentic Chinese jewelry and toys. My favorite store was a toy store that had very strange toys that are popular in China including "Flinger" the feces throwing monkey.
Sunset on the Coast at Santa Monica
We drove to Santa Monica to watch the sunset and relax. We had dinner at a mexican restaurant in the area and then took Sunset Blvd back into L.A.
Out to the Movies
We went and saw Michael Moore's movie Farenheit 911. I can't tell you which made my stomach crawl more, the movie or the fact that it costs $14.00 to see a movie in California. We went to the famous Arc Light theater in Hollywood for the show and I enjoyed the experience of the theater. They have features like, reserved seating, not a bad seat in the house, and the theater representative talks to everyone before the show and gives them a briefing instead of your typical filmed intro to the theater.
Day 5 - One last day of surfing
We headed back to the beach for our final day in Los Angeles. I had much better luck surfing on this day, and spent a little bit of time standing on my surfboard. I took one good fall where the board snapped back and the fin caught me in the leg leaving a nice big bruise. Afterwards we ate at in-and-out burger and then headed to the airport to catch our flight back.
Homeward Bound
All good things must come to an end, and we had to fly back to Colorado, but we really had a good time with Todd and Stacy checking out all that the L.A. area had to offer. We covered a lot of bases in the amount of time we were there and Valerie and I always enjoy our time together as well as the company of Todd and Stacy. We're looking forward to being able to visit again soon.
