Sunday, September 07, 2008

I love L.A............N O T

Welcome to a place where dreams come true and things just look so perfect. Either this is heaven or it's southern California (aka Los Angeles). As I got on the plane I was looking forward to seeing so many things whether it was the beach or just time outdoors. I wonder if my suspicions were true about California .......I found out after a week pretty much is true.

Let's start first with day one.......I met up with my old roommate Robb who picked me up at LAX.
We headed to his place in Torrance, CA a fairly nice neighborhood. I was thinking it was going to be a small apt. .....Oh no, this wasn't an apt. it was a business/storage unit. Dusty, dirty and two window units in the roof with bars on it. Honestly, I thought I was staying pretty close to a prison cell. Day two was when it really got interesting because slowly but surely I started seeing the real L.A. A lot of the interstate areas just look so trashy along with a a lot of tagging along the cement sidewalks. Even some of the palm trees are faked because their disguised as cell phone towers. As we traveled along the Pacific Coast Highway or as the locals call it PCH. We pass by the famous beaches of Venice, Santa Monica and ended up in Malibu. Great picturesque scenery of the coast and the mountains that hug it Here's a picture that kind of gives you an idea. (Although this Venice beach you'll get my drift)




Two days later we went to the Tonight show with Jay Leno.....we waited in line for hours but we were able to get into the show and even before we did that we saw the NBC studio tour which is definitely worth seeing before you go to the show. Here's me doing the pointing thing again.

















Before the show begins, Jay Leno does a Q & A with the audience and Robb and I got to meet Jay Leno. Somebody on his staff got to take a photo of us right there on the set. It was probably the highlight of the whole vacation To get a picture with a celebrity and nice guy too nonetheless was pretty awesome.
To cap things off we ended up at dodger stadium. Very unique stadium with three different levels. Yes, I did have super dodger dog (all beef). The palm trees around the stadium along with the mountains on one side and the L.A. skyline on the other makes this ballpark really special. Overall, LA. does have nice weather and great beaches and some of the people are friendly. However, the traffic is bad, people drive like maniacs, certain areas are trashy and I felt like I was in old mexico and not the United States. It was great to visit the city and my old roommate, but I doubt if I will ever go back there ever again. It's actually kind of great to come back to the Midwest where I can tell that a man is man and a woman is woman.
Signed
Tim "enjoyed nice weather on vacation" Crippen
PS: I know California is broke, but why do they charge $5.00 just to park at the beach? If you want to go to good restaurant...go to "Duke's" in Malibu for some great clam chowder at $6.50 for a bowl.

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