Thursday, December 2, 2010

California






I went to California over the summer while I was still looking for a job which I have found by the way. I was a load of fun and I have been awakened to the Californian mentality.




July 4th- We drove to Charlotte NC, in a large van with my father, mother, sister, brother, and grandmother. We flew to Houston where we stopped for lunch. We flew from Houston to LAX where took a shuttle to Alamo car rental and drove to Calabasas where we checked into our hotel. We ate at In-n-Out Burger, a strictly West coast burger joint with a secret menu. My brother was sick this first day.




July 5th- We woke up in our hotel, grabbed breakfast, and drove in our Suburban to Hollywood. We got on a topless hop on hop off tour bus and drove around Hollywood seeing the sights and such. We got to see the Graumans theater, the Grove, the LaBrea Tar Pits, and we took a stop at Pinks Hot Dogs. My brother and I ducked out of the line to go to a comic book shop and I got to talk to some of the LA locals. We chatted a bit about what it was like living there. They said that living there was expensive but it was worth it for the chance of maybe becoming famous. Hmmm... After taking a connector, we got on a bus to see the downtown architecture of LA which was surprisingly very interesting. We also got to go see China Town and had churros. then we went down the highway on an open top bus! Then we got off and went back to the car and drove up to meet our relatives who lived there and after dinner we went back to the hotel


July 6th- We got up and this time my sister was sick and on our way to Burbank for a Warner Brothers tour. We got to see the Ellen show set and the 2 and a 1/2 men set as well. After 4 hours or hollywood magic, we stopped at Big Boy and ate and then went back to the hotel for some R and R. That evening we went to Santa Monica and Malibu and had sushi and pizza. We did the Hollywood walk of fame that night.


July 7th- We left LA on the Pacific coast highway and went through California's fertile farmland. On the way we heard that there had been tremers in LA and we also got to see where our lettuce comes from. We had followed the Andy Boy lettuce that they sell at Cost-Co back to the farm. We stopped at the home of John Steinbeck, Monterray! We spent a night looking for a good place to eat, Louie Linguini's. We went back to the hotel and wrote post cards to our friends.


July 8th- We drove down to Big Sur where strangely enought we found a bhuddist shop at the top of one of the mountains. weird. We drove to San Francisco


July 9th- We drove to fisherman's warf and saw the tourist trap of the century. We again did an open top bus tour or San Franciso. We saw the Transamerica pyramid which my mother used to work for, City Hall, Haight Ashebury, Golden Gate Bridge, Ghiradelli Square, Painted Sisters, and China Town. Then we had snack at Boudin's for sourdough bread. We then drove to China Town and had a dim sum dinner with the owner of the shop. Afterwards, we drove down Lombard Street in a SUBURBAN!!!


July 10th- Then we did the bus tour again and walked the Golden Gate Bridge with the Breast Cancer runners who gave us all dirty looks. on the way back to the car, my grandmother tripped and I had to carry her. We drove to Muirs woods to see the giant redwoods. they were trying to charge us $15 dollars a pop to see these trees. We instead skipped the line to just see it, and it was worth it. We then drove to Berkeley College and i had my picture taken and we ate at Xtreme pizza. definatly one of my college picks.


July 11th- We went back to fishermans wharf and took the alcatraz tour. it was awesome. we werent allowed into the cells anymore due to mechanical malfunctions. but we were able to hear about the legend and lore about famous escapes and murders. sweet. We ate at Boudin's and heard the uproar of the World Cup everywhere we went. We made some last chances to see some things like Haight Ashebury and other things. We left the next day.


I think overall, the culture of California is slightly more relaxed than others and is more tolerant of other cultures. Im glad a place like this exists for people who are ready to make the leap but im sort of glad the whole world isnt like it.

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Im a 6' 7" male who enjoys the concept of an objective good (God) and is willing to join any cause that doesnt get me blown up.