Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Turbulence
I will not be able to post this for a while, on account that I am flying through the air. We just took off from LAX, and as I look below me I see a little lake up in the mountains right on the other side of the city. Now that we pass the mountains I notice that the landscape is changing into more desert terrain. That is something that is quite amazing about california, the topography is different in such a condensed area. The flight took off with amazing vistas of the ocean, and now I see the desolation of death valley.
Ok well I should probably tell a little about how things went in the last couple of days. The days passed very slow and all to fast at the same time. I would first like to give a shout out to Colleen for being one hell of a traveling companion, really you made the trip about a bazillion times better than it would have been all by myself. Now we have to deal with the hard reality of a long term thing, not anything that I will be looking forward to.
We had lunch with grandma and got the 411 about the wine tasting area in the Santa Ynez valley. Our first plan was to drive up to Santa Maria, where I knew there would be at least a couple of hotels and one track of vineyards to hit up. On advice of Nana and Stan, we headed to the Buelton/Solvang area instead. Probably for the best that I didn’t just go ahead and book some hotel room when I had the WiFi at the last hotel, that would have been a little depressing to be stuck in downtown Santa Maria. If you ever go to Santa Maria you will know what I am talking about.
Solvang was this cute Danish community that despite being touristy all to hell, is still fun place to hang out. We were there on a Monday, so the streets were empty save a few of the locals. I tried to find a wireless signal to search for the best hotel, after being thoroughly frustrated I just walked into some hotel and got a room the old fashioned way. Good thing I did, we found a room for just 49.50 plus tax. The most touristy place we stayed the entire trip and without question the cheapest lodging, go figure.
The luggage got dropped off in the room and Colleen and I started driving with our vineyard tasting map in hand in search of fun wines. I was being responsible designated driver boy, so for the first portion of our wine tasting I had little more than a sip or two. Different from other wineries I have been to, these charged a fee in order to try all the wines. They do give you a souvenir glass, so the fee isn’t that bad considering. The most expensive place we went was just 10 dollars for 6 wines, the cheapest was 5 dollars for the same. We hit about 4 places before we drove back to Solvang to get some food and see what else was going on in the town. I at this point had not really as I said drank much more than a couple of sips, so it was nice to see that Solvang itself had a couple of wine tasting opportunities. Fast forward about an hour, our bag is full of another 6 glasses and we are stumbling around the town. All together we got 9 glasses, this was even though one of the places that we stopped didn’t give glasses.
FYI I am flying over Vegas right now, the shade of the houses leads me to believe that Vegas has lots of Terra Cotta roofs.
The rest of the night a little of a blur, I remember going into the hot tub repeatedly and having ginourmous steaks at some restaurant with prices far too high for the quality. It could be just that I have standards to the point where I think that my filet mignon should be seasoned, is that too much to ask? I think that maybe Colleen got me to swing dance in our room for a couple of hours, not a easy task considering I am perhaps the worlds worst dancer, or at least in the bottom 5 percent. It was still fun, listening to music on the little alarm clock radio and spinning around the room, I am surprised neither of us passed out due to dizziness. I really have no recollection of going to bed but I sadly do remember vividly waking up feeling a little groggy and with my head pounding.
The drive back to LA was awesome, I really didn’t remember how gorgeous that area was. We stopped for a bit in Santa Monica and got a cup of coffee and a Bagel before hopping back on the 101 in a southerly direction Los Angeles bound. There was a slight detour in Carpenteria where we walked on the beach and Colleen popped seaweed bubbles between her toes. We spent probably a half of an hour on the beach before getting back into the car. It was fun seeing these little birds feeding on something as the wave receeded and then having to sprint back before the wave devoured them whole. I wonder why they didn’t just fly when the next wave came back, wouldn’t that have been easier? Hell they are birds right?
Kim, I did get you a little sand from that beach, hope you are happy.
We made it back to Grandpa’s house in Santa Fe and visited for a bit before driving to the airport area. Gramps seemed to be quite taken with Colleen, especially with her freckles of which he commented how becoming they were. As we were sitting on the side of the pool, grandpa also told how when he goes swimming swim trunks are optional. I don’t know if I knew that Gramps was an avid skinny dipper, but then again maybe I just forgot.
We tried to find a couple of hotels before we decided on the Motor Lodge on the side of the Adult Shop. The hotel was just like the others, nothing fancy and the price wasn’t that outlandish. From the hotel we drove back up the 405 to Ventura Blvd., where Lisa had taken me earlier in the week. It took forever to get there, and it took even longer to find a thrift store. Colleen really wanted a vintage shirt to sport out in Brooklyn, she found this cool tight aquamarine number with thick stripes, absolute Colleen style to be sure.
Back on Ventura, we drove up to Universal City, admittedly I was a little lost, at least I didn’t know the best way to get back to the LAX area. Then I saw Muholland Drive, and figure what the hell we didn’t really have anywhere to get to in a hurry. Driving up Muholland through the windy Hollywood hills was a little difficult, but we rewarded with a little turn off looking out across the valley. The sun had just set and the lights of the city looked awe inspiring as it twinkled and sparkled. Such serenity in such a busy place.
It was at this point that I got us back onto the 405 in rush hour traffic and had to subject ourselves to stop and go traffic for over an hour. Again I must state my disapproval of the LA area freeway system, too big and too many people. That is the reason I will never live in that city, the sheer distance and time it takes to get anywhere has to grate on someone's nerves so much I would not be able to stand it more than a week. Mileage on the rental car was 905 miles in just a week, or 129 miles a day, too much time in the car I say.
For our last night together in LA, Colleen and I did little more than drink 40’s, eat really bad Chinese food and bitch at each other for not living in the same city. Oh we did go into the most ghetto sex shop I have ever seen in my life, that was interesting at best.
Now I am flying back to Minneapolis where I have heard tale that there has been a little snow that has fallen which I am going to have to shovel. I now have to turn my mind back into work mode, although I am not really looking forward to it. At least I can look back and reminisce about my little LA vacation even if it was a little too short.
Ok well I should probably tell a little about how things went in the last couple of days. The days passed very slow and all to fast at the same time. I would first like to give a shout out to Colleen for being one hell of a traveling companion, really you made the trip about a bazillion times better than it would have been all by myself. Now we have to deal with the hard reality of a long term thing, not anything that I will be looking forward to.
We had lunch with grandma and got the 411 about the wine tasting area in the Santa Ynez valley. Our first plan was to drive up to Santa Maria, where I knew there would be at least a couple of hotels and one track of vineyards to hit up. On advice of Nana and Stan, we headed to the Buelton/Solvang area instead. Probably for the best that I didn’t just go ahead and book some hotel room when I had the WiFi at the last hotel, that would have been a little depressing to be stuck in downtown Santa Maria. If you ever go to Santa Maria you will know what I am talking about.
Solvang was this cute Danish community that despite being touristy all to hell, is still fun place to hang out. We were there on a Monday, so the streets were empty save a few of the locals. I tried to find a wireless signal to search for the best hotel, after being thoroughly frustrated I just walked into some hotel and got a room the old fashioned way. Good thing I did, we found a room for just 49.50 plus tax. The most touristy place we stayed the entire trip and without question the cheapest lodging, go figure.
The luggage got dropped off in the room and Colleen and I started driving with our vineyard tasting map in hand in search of fun wines. I was being responsible designated driver boy, so for the first portion of our wine tasting I had little more than a sip or two. Different from other wineries I have been to, these charged a fee in order to try all the wines. They do give you a souvenir glass, so the fee isn’t that bad considering. The most expensive place we went was just 10 dollars for 6 wines, the cheapest was 5 dollars for the same. We hit about 4 places before we drove back to Solvang to get some food and see what else was going on in the town. I at this point had not really as I said drank much more than a couple of sips, so it was nice to see that Solvang itself had a couple of wine tasting opportunities. Fast forward about an hour, our bag is full of another 6 glasses and we are stumbling around the town. All together we got 9 glasses, this was even though one of the places that we stopped didn’t give glasses.
FYI I am flying over Vegas right now, the shade of the houses leads me to believe that Vegas has lots of Terra Cotta roofs.
The rest of the night a little of a blur, I remember going into the hot tub repeatedly and having ginourmous steaks at some restaurant with prices far too high for the quality. It could be just that I have standards to the point where I think that my filet mignon should be seasoned, is that too much to ask? I think that maybe Colleen got me to swing dance in our room for a couple of hours, not a easy task considering I am perhaps the worlds worst dancer, or at least in the bottom 5 percent. It was still fun, listening to music on the little alarm clock radio and spinning around the room, I am surprised neither of us passed out due to dizziness. I really have no recollection of going to bed but I sadly do remember vividly waking up feeling a little groggy and with my head pounding.
The drive back to LA was awesome, I really didn’t remember how gorgeous that area was. We stopped for a bit in Santa Monica and got a cup of coffee and a Bagel before hopping back on the 101 in a southerly direction Los Angeles bound. There was a slight detour in Carpenteria where we walked on the beach and Colleen popped seaweed bubbles between her toes. We spent probably a half of an hour on the beach before getting back into the car. It was fun seeing these little birds feeding on something as the wave receeded and then having to sprint back before the wave devoured them whole. I wonder why they didn’t just fly when the next wave came back, wouldn’t that have been easier? Hell they are birds right?
Kim, I did get you a little sand from that beach, hope you are happy.
We made it back to Grandpa’s house in Santa Fe and visited for a bit before driving to the airport area. Gramps seemed to be quite taken with Colleen, especially with her freckles of which he commented how becoming they were. As we were sitting on the side of the pool, grandpa also told how when he goes swimming swim trunks are optional. I don’t know if I knew that Gramps was an avid skinny dipper, but then again maybe I just forgot.
We tried to find a couple of hotels before we decided on the Motor Lodge on the side of the Adult Shop. The hotel was just like the others, nothing fancy and the price wasn’t that outlandish. From the hotel we drove back up the 405 to Ventura Blvd., where Lisa had taken me earlier in the week. It took forever to get there, and it took even longer to find a thrift store. Colleen really wanted a vintage shirt to sport out in Brooklyn, she found this cool tight aquamarine number with thick stripes, absolute Colleen style to be sure.
Back on Ventura, we drove up to Universal City, admittedly I was a little lost, at least I didn’t know the best way to get back to the LAX area. Then I saw Muholland Drive, and figure what the hell we didn’t really have anywhere to get to in a hurry. Driving up Muholland through the windy Hollywood hills was a little difficult, but we rewarded with a little turn off looking out across the valley. The sun had just set and the lights of the city looked awe inspiring as it twinkled and sparkled. Such serenity in such a busy place.
It was at this point that I got us back onto the 405 in rush hour traffic and had to subject ourselves to stop and go traffic for over an hour. Again I must state my disapproval of the LA area freeway system, too big and too many people. That is the reason I will never live in that city, the sheer distance and time it takes to get anywhere has to grate on someone's nerves so much I would not be able to stand it more than a week. Mileage on the rental car was 905 miles in just a week, or 129 miles a day, too much time in the car I say.
For our last night together in LA, Colleen and I did little more than drink 40’s, eat really bad Chinese food and bitch at each other for not living in the same city. Oh we did go into the most ghetto sex shop I have ever seen in my life, that was interesting at best.
Now I am flying back to Minneapolis where I have heard tale that there has been a little snow that has fallen which I am going to have to shovel. I now have to turn my mind back into work mode, although I am not really looking forward to it. At least I can look back and reminisce about my little LA vacation even if it was a little too short.
# posted by Felipe : 5:23 PM
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