Scribbles

Our beloved friends from NY arrived last Thursday night and kicked off our extended MLK weekend. Putting to the first true test of how my apartment handles guests, I think we managed it quite well. For one of our friends – it was her first time in California – we strung together a diverse itinerary stretching from the beaches of Santa Monica all the way down to Orange County. And for good measure, we even trekked out to Magic Mountain for some amazing roller coasters, eleven of them to be precise. And heavy partying in Hollywood and tons of food filled in the gaps. Believe me when I say that I’m exhausted, mostly from the eating. That and some unhealthy eating this weekend for CNY, should be grounds for another detox session.
 
Whenever I travel, I usually hate the tourist traps. And this time around, I’m sincerely glad that we didn’t overdo them. I always enjoy a walk along the ocean so Santa Monica works for me regardless. Walking down avenue of Stars along the Chinese Theater was something I hadn’t done in years. The rest of it was relatively localized: Chinese food in San Gabriel Valley felt like my weekly visit to see gramps; brunch at Farmers Market is already becoming part of my weekly routine; and reliving my youthful days in Magic Mountain, a theme park you don’t expect to beat out Disneyland or Universal Studios when it comes to tourists. Not that I could possibly bear Disneyland anyways.
 

Our laundry list of merry eating and drinking:
LA-y places: Brunch at Farmers Market (meet me at 3rd and Fairfax), 3 am vegan meals at Swingers, self ordered grub from terminals at uWink in Hollywood, the obligatory pit stop at In-n-Out Burgers (where I unfortunately had a small bite after years of successfully avoiding);
Downtown: Shojin (my adopted family in downtown), Nickel Diner, drinks at the Association;
San Gabriel Valley Taiwanese Food Tour: Din Tai Fung, Tea Station, yam porridge at Lu’s Garden;
and a long haul down to the OC for raw Vietnamese food at Au Lac.

 
When I review that list I realize that we crammed too much into too short of a time period. Next time I would tune things down a notch and include a real beach trip for lounging around. Sand under the toes has to be a crowd-pleaser. As for consecutive nights of clubbing, hindsight says they’re excessive. Although it did make for two separate instances of negotiation training. On the first night out, the parking attendant tried to rip us off by charging us another $10 for picking up the car after 2am. He threatened to make us wait until the parking office opened in the morning. I made him unlock the doors so the girls can rest in the car while I talked his ear off for 10 minutes. I’d like to believe it was my fast talking instead of his fatigue that led to him “doing me a favor” and handing off my keys. And on the second night, four members of the crew managed to wrangle themselves into the club for free after missing the time limit on guest list access. The money saved was eventually spent on Tequila, which may not have been such a great deal after all. Nonetheless, I can’t help thinking that our over-partying resulted in missing our planned visit to the Getty Center, one of my favorite places. But hey, no regrets, c’est la vie.
 
All in all, the timing was perfect. After freezing in NY, our guests enjoyed perfect weather here, with most days nary a cloud and temperatures friendly to t-shirt and shorts. On they day of their departure, we bore witness to the Inauguration at home while watching the crowd congregate 2 blocks down at LA Live. An inspiring and memorable send-off to a great visit, undoubtedly with more to come.