on vacation

[spareparts]

after about 5 work weeks from hell, I'm on vacation!. We flew into LA last night and stayed in a scary hotel. We got up early, hung around till the rental company had our car, and drove out of there. We went to Santa Monica/Venice Beach today and had lunch.Later we drove down Wilshire Blvd, crossed over Rodeo, cut thru Beverly Hills and did a scouting mission for tomorrow.I looked for Uncle Jed and Ellie May, but didn't see them anywhere. Tomorrow I'm dropping the girls off in the shopping district, then I'm going to the Peterson Museum. Thinking about heading up to Santa Barbara Sunday, staying the night, then going back down to Disney for a day, driving down to San Diego later in the week to do Sea World. Going to be quite a week.

[cfelton]

Hope yall have a nice vacation Spare! My wife lived a few early years in West Covina, we've talked about going out there one day maybe.

[bradford]

LA???... You mean Lower Alabama??

Stay safe out there Spare!

[willy]

Have a great time my friend

[macojoe]

I loved Santa Moncia when i was there!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[spareparts]

lots of strange people out here :oh::haha::pic:

[RidgeRunner]

Now that your there, right? :clap:

What on earth posessed you to go out West for a vaca?

[spareparts]

wife's idea. Ive been here before and knew better, couldn't convince the family otherwise. I got outvoted

[spareparts]

by the way, I went to the Peterson Museum yesterday and it sucked!!!! I went there back in 96 and spent the better part of the day there, this time I was done in under an hour. They didn't have anywhere near the amount of cars there they used to. Go to their facebook page and read my comments

[RidgeRunner]

LOL! You didn't leave a clinker in the urinal did you?

[spareparts]

Chillin' in Santa Barbara today. I see several cold beverages in my future

[willy]

Enjoy it my friend, family time is good stuff.

[Destroyer]

I'm extremely jealous!!! Have a great time with your family Spare. :beer:

[spareparts]

went back to LA, did the Hollywood tour on the double Decker bus, never seen so many weirdos. I now truly know why they call it Hollyweird. Seen a bunch of high dollar cars, seems the Lambo drop top in black is all the vogue. Did Disneyland the next day, I really liked the "cars" ride. Is it a bad thing that i realized I was pressing down with my right foot trying to beat the car in the next lane(track)? Had fun with that, packed everyone up and drove the PCH South, stopped in San Clemente, real nice beaches, drove thru Oceanside(reminded me of Jacksonville, NC) and on to San Diego. Rode around San Diego yesterday, tried to go down to the water front, but they have that whole area under construction and couldn't find a place to park, I wanted to see the "Star of India" and the Midway museum, but got overruled by the women. Ended up going to the beach so they could shop. I found a cool surf shop, although the people working there were pricks. We went to Sea World today, had a good time, the Shamu show is pretty lame now, the trainers don't get in the water with the whales any more and they stuck to pretty simple stuff. We are all getting pretty tired now. Driving back to LA tomorrow, taking an easy day, don't know what were going to get into. Flying out early Saturday morning, headed back home!

[RidgeRunner]

Sounds like you did have a good time. People watchin is a pastime of mine. Forced into it really, boredom necessitates some form of entertainment, people normally comply with a smile a minute. Have a good trip back to reality this weekend.:beer:

[bradford]

"Driving back to LA tomorrow....."

Man, that don't even sound right!

[reelapeelin]

I know ya hadda a great time w/the family...always special no matter where...yall travel home safe tomorrow...I'll send ya the truck pics I told ya about...2000 F250 Power Stroke

[spareparts]

Just saw a v in long beach with a johnrude on the back. I couldn't get the phone out quick enough to take a picture.

[willy]

Safe trip home my friend

[spareparts]

made it home in one piece today. Wake up at 5 am PT, trip to the car rental drop off, shuttle bus to the airport, check in thru TSA, grab coffee and breakfast , The plane boarded at 9. took off at 9:30. 5 hours on the plane, landed in Charlotte, waited for the luggage, and the shuttle bus, drove home, made it in the door at 9:30 EST. Been a long day and a lot of miles.

[Destroyer]

made it home in one piece today. Wake up at 5 am PT, trip to the car rental drop off, shuttle bus to the airport, check in thru TSA, grab coffee and breakfast , The plane boarded at 9. took off at 9:30. 5 hours on the plane, landed in Charlotte, waited for the luggage, and the shuttle bus, drove home, made it in the door at 9:30 EST. Been a long day and a lot of miles.

There's no place like home. Welcome back Spare. :beer:

[spareparts]

I'm just starting to compile all the memories in my head from last week, quite a culture shock. One thing that really sticks out in my mind is the number of professional homeless people. Every where we turned there was some one with a sign asking for money, every one had an angle. Funny thing is a lot of them had on ***elry, make up, well appointed hair, even one guy had on fresh workout suit and a pair of Air Jordan's on. There was a blinged out Charger in that parking lot(only car), we came back thru a few minutes later and the guy and the car were gone. People have no shame

[bradford]

I'm just starting to compile all the memories in my head from last week, quite a culture shock. One thing that really sticks out in my mind is the number of professional homeless people. Every where we turned there was some one with a sign asking for money, every one had an angle. Funny thing is a lot of them had on ***elry, make up, well appointed hair, even one guy had on fresh workout suit and a pair of Air Jordan's on. There was a blinged out Charger in that parking lot(only car), we came back thru a few minutes later and the guy and the car were gone. People have no shame


I'm not really that old yet, but I noticed in the last few years my tolerance for outright BS has dropped tremendously.

For everyone's safety I will not be visiting Commiefornia.

p.s. I noticed a lot of the same down in Key West. I love the Keys, but don't care if I ever go all the way to the end of US 1 ever again.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Key West is OK, you just have to be careful to pick the time you go. As for kommiefornia, I know I couldn't make it out there. I want to visit to see the west coast, but I don't want to go because it's the left coast.

[spareparts]

Bradford, I feel the same way about Key West. Over all, the areas we were in were pretty good. Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, San Clemente, Laguna Beach, and Dana Point were all very nice and most of the people were nice. But the bums were every where we went, they got worse as the areas we were in got worse, but they were everywhere. There is some beautiful country out there, and you could tell the real Californians, they were nice and pleasant, they all were very respondent to our "southern politeness". I had several people compliment my two girls on their manners. The thing about out there, is there are a lot of people that aren't from out there(lots of Europeans and South Americans), you could tell the Californians feel there are out numbered. If any of you ever get the chance, I highly recommend driving the PCH, we only did it from San Diego to Santa Barbara, I'd love to drive the whole way, or even take the train(follows the same route)

[reelapeelin]

Bradford, I feel the same way about Key West. Over all, the areas we were in were pretty good. Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, San Clemente, Laguna Beach, and Dana Point were all very nice and most of the people were nice. But the bums were every where we went, they got worse as the areas we were in got worse, but they were everywhere. There is some beautiful country out there, and you could tell the real Californians, they were nice and pleasant, they all were very respondent to our "southern politeness". I had several people compliment my two girls on their manners. The thing about out there, is there are a lot of people that aren't from out there(lots of Europeans and South Americans), you could tell the Californians feel there are out numbered. If any of you ever get the chance, I highly recommend driving the PCH, we only did it from San Diego to Santa Barbara, I'd love to drive the whole way, or even take the train(follows the same route)

I was out in LA back in Feb for a private screening of the movie I was in...saw lots of homeless people on Sunset Blvd and over in Santa Monica and none ever asked us for any money...I could go back out there and spend some time, as long as there's a return trip plane ticket in my pocket...:party: