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10:49:13 pm on April 4, 2007 | # |
So my roommate, my brother and I went to Cali a couple of weeks ago. Although Brett could only stay for the first leg, Mikey and I spent eight full days there. Naturally, you haven’t heard about it until now.
Well, sloth be darned, Mikey and I are working
hardto give you a day-to-day account of our shenanigans in the Golden State (with pictures, too!).We had a few simple objectives with our trip: eat at California-only restaurants, visit sites that were relatively cheap (if not free), and spend some time with the extended family. The following is a chronicle of our trip, with some pictures here and there. After all, when it comes to picture-taking, we typically adhere to the John Mayer 3×5 Philosophy.
Prelude - The First Night
It’s an unspoken rule that if you go to California, you must visit an In-N-Out Burger. So when our flight landed in LAX on Friday night, that was the first place we went. Everything at In-N-Out is fresh, so it’s some pretty darn good fast food.After In-N-Out, Hai took us to his place to unpack for the week. Then he proceeded to take us on the walking tour of Santa Monica, everything from the Pier to the Promenade. Everything you need is pretty much in walking distance.
Unfortunately, Mikey’s camera wasn’t charged at this point, and it was dark out, so the pictures would’ve turned out pretty crappy, anyway. The first night was in the books.
Day One
It’s Saturday, and despite the two-hour time gain, we all slept in. For lunch, we went to a Korean restaurant called Hodori.
As you can see from the sign, this place is open all the time. That’s right, you too can fulfill your galbi and bulgogi cravings whenever you want!
After Hodori, we decided to go to Hollywood to do the normal tourist stuff (Walk of Fame, Kodak Theatre, Grauman’s Chinese Theater, etc.). Funny thing is, when we got there, we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of an anti-war protest, and it was crazy: booths and displays everywhere, people in costume, as well as a live concert. Those darn Californians, so liberal they are.
Believe it or not, there was a small pro-war contingency there. They had a booth and everything. They also had a barricade of LA police officers surrounding them to protect them from any would-be rioters. It was probably for the better.
All of this protesting got us pretty thirsty, so we decided to head into the Disney Soda Fountain for some shakes. Yes, the Disney store in Hollywood is also a restaurant that serves food and drink.
They had a special St. Patrick’s Day menu, so I ordered the Shamrock Shake, which was just a green vanilla milk shake with clover sprinkles. Nothing special, right? I must say, the shakes there are phenomenal, easily one of the best shakes I’ve ever had. The Shamrock Shake had nothing on the dessert Hai got: a sundae with, check it, whipped marshmallows. What?!
Check it out, it actually stayed suspended like that the whole time, and it was edible!
After our foray into Hollywood, we decided to head back to Santa Monica to check out Method Studios, Hai’s workplace. All in all, it was a pretty cool environment. After that, we decided to check out the 3rd Street Promenade again, except this time, the sun was still out, the stores were open and the street performers were doing their thing.
Dinner that night was at the California Chicken Cafe, which I can only describe as a healthier Boston Market. Not bad, I say.
And what’s a dinner without dessert? Hai had a craving for Coldstone, so we broke our California-only rule for his sake, and some of us (not I) enjoyed some ice cream. The night ended with a DVD viewing of Superman Returns. An interesting note, Hai’s roommate is actually in the credits, because his studio did some work for the movie. Cool, huh?
That does it for Day 1. Stay tuned for more. As always, you can view all of the gallery pictures at your leisure.
