And it was Los Angeles in February during the coldest winter DC has had in a long time, so that worked out well. In fact, a big snowfall had begun as we were waiting for our flight to take off. We were off to a rocky start when 1-Jack threw up on Lelaine and simultaneously had a diaper blowout within minutes of arriving at the airport, 2-our flight was supposed to leave at 10pm but we sat on the tarmac waiting to be de-iced for more than two hours, and 3-while sitting on the plane waiting to take off, Jack managed to have yet another diaper blowout (luckily we had two spare outfits on us).
But things took a significantly better turn once we arrived. Thursday morning Lelaine took me to LA Mill in Silver Lake, her favorite coffee shop. That is saying something considering that she has been to approximately 1500 coffee shops. I had a coffee made with a contraption for which only six exist in the world. After breakfast we drove to Santa Monica for what was my favorite part of a trip, a bike ride along the beach with mountains in the background. It was a pretty amazing setting for Jack's first bike ride. We rode for ten or so miles (saw people working out in Venice and Muscle Beach, but no Hulk Hogan) and then went to Umami for burgers. Lelaine convinced me to get their special monte cristo, which was a burger covered in gruyere fondue and prosciutto on vanilla custard-soaked buns there were deep fried. It was good, but had too much going on. We were met by our friends Jeff and Ashley who live in DC and were also in town for McConKron (the bride's name is McConville and the groom's Lowenkron). For dinner we had ramen, which is Lelaine's favorite thing to have in LA. She was pretty pleased that I enjoyed it, and Jack must have thought it looked good because at one point he slammed his fist into one of the giant bowls of soup and noodles. That is a recent trend - sitting there and acting fairly calm but then very aggressively grabbing things, which led Lelaine to start calling him Bam Bam.
She always talks about how good the donuts are in California, so Friday morning we went to a donut place. The donuts were good, but the cronuts - the first I have ever consumed - were better. We spent the rest of the morning driving around Beverly Hills and Hollywood, then went to east LA to King Taco. Tacos are one of my favorite foods and I was really looking forward to it. While not exactly disappointed, I didn't see what was so special about them other than that they were pretty solid and dirt cheap.
That late afternoon and evening were the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Christy went to UCLA and is a huge Bruins fan (we once helped her paint her condo blue and gold) and the wedding was on campus. While Lelaine was at the rehearsal, Jack and I walked around campus and he had his picture taken next to a John Wooden statue. He has now been to four campuses - GW, Ole Miss, and Georgetown were the first three - and UCLA's is definitely the nicest.
Saturday was wedding day. While Lelaine got ready, Jack and I took a walk to Beverly Hills (we stayed at a hotel in Century City, which is only a couple miles from both Beverly Hills and UCLA). We even saw the high school, but sadly no sign of Dylan or Brandon. We dropped Lelaine, who wasn't feeling well, off for wedding stuff and we did some more sightseeing. Jack and I had lunch at a pizza place in Westwood that was very crowded and had tables very close together. The table of three students next to us talked about the different TV scripts they are writing, with one guy going on and on about his political drama that he claimed is like the West Wing but without the moral high horse. The pizza was fantastic - Neapolitan style with great crust and a lot of bacon - but the beer list was pretty sorry.
We then mosied back to campus and I let Jack roll around on the grass, which he loved. We realized it was the first time he has ever touched grass, which is kind of sad, but we don't have a yard and he wasn't very active in his first few months before it got too cold for him to be playing on the ground in a park in DC.
The wedding was very nice. Isaac, the groom, is a sportscaster for the Clippers and went to USC. He is a better man than me. If Lelaine told me that when we got married, we would do so at UF, play the UF fight song at the wedding, and that I would wear UF colors, I would tell her it has been nice knowing her. Instead, Isaac was a good sport about the whole thing. Jack was sporting one of his tux onesies, but of course, he had a blowout in the middle of the reception and had to put on his back up outfit.
Following one of the best breakfast burritos I have ever had at Huckleberry in Santa Monica, we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu and up to Santa Barbara. We walked down the beach, drove through town, and then set out for a vineyard that was in the movie Sideways. The drive was really impressive. There aren't too many places where you can go from the ocean to a mountain pass several thousand feet above sea level in 15 minutes.
The winery we went to was ok, but wasn't anything special, so we set out for a second place. On the way there, as we drove through a rural area with a lot of vineyards, cattle ranches, and mountains, we passed through Los Olivos and decided to scrap the second winery and spend the afternoon there. It is a little town that is just a few streets and old western looking buildings, but it has more than 30 winery tasting rooms on those few blocks. We hadn't eaten since breakfast, so ate at one of the restaurants that was also a wine store. Lelaine ordered the roasted vegetables, and they were so good that even I liked them. We also had pizzas and a little wine at an outdoor table that was a perfect way to wind down the trip. It looked like a place out of a movie. On the way home, we realized that it was also the setting for a scene in Sideways.
That was pretty much it for the trip. We drove back to LA that night, slept for a few hours, and flew back home the next morning.
1 comment:
Wow! Nice post! Great adventures!
Therese :)
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