California Love

LTD and I just got back from a great "Tour of California" stretching from San Francisco to San Diego with a stop in Los Angeles in between.

Our flight from MCO left just after 4:00 pm, the late departure time was because I had just finished up a wedding weekend for a good friend of mine. We chose to fly direct with Virgin Airlines, which, if I can afford it (big if) I will fly as often as possible. Great experience with them.

Arrival in SFO 7:30ish pm. FTD was gracious enough to pick us up (and let us stay with her, but who are we kidding she desperately wanted us to stay with her). We were pretty hungry, even though, technically we should have been asleep on east coast time. Nonsense. Food would need to be consumed. We went to a great place called Pizzeria Delfina, which was delicious. Big fan. Also, by this time I had decided SFO had a good vibe, and I was feelin it. On to FTD's spot, which I also liked, although the pull-out isn't crazy comfy, but what pull-out is?

The next day, FTD went off to work, and LTD and I hit the bricks(paved street) to catch the double-decker open air tourist bus. LTD loves this stuff, I'm generally medium on it. We hop on (its a hop on, hop off) and decide we'll just hop off wherever it suits us. We ride around Fisherman's Wharf, through the downtown/financial district, past the painted ladies, and up to the Golden Gate bridge. We decide to hop off and walk across. The tour bus narrator tells us it takes 1.5 - 2 hours to walk over and back. I scoff at this. It did end up taking us over an hour, even with slow walkers and crazy cyclists sharing the sidewalks. I saw some seals (I think) swimming around, so that was cool. There are also a lot of "Don't Jump" signs and call boxes. We hop back on and ride some more, until we hop off at the Buena Vista, where the first Irish Coffee in America was served. I of course had one. It was delicious. After that, we got some chocolate (LTD twisted my arm to get a brownie sunday) and walked around Fisherman's Wharf for a while, until we decided to walk over to FTDs work and wait till she was off so we could have a drink before dinner. She had a cocktail hour meet and greet thing, so LTD and I sat at the bar while she pretended to be interested. The three of us then went to meet an across-the-creek friend at the Slanted Door for some dinner. Oh. Back up. LTD and I left before FTD, and took her purse etc with us. I texted her like a normal person to let her know. LTD almost went into the double handed above the head wave to get her attention. Luckily, I was able to stop it in time. Dinner was great. I definitely ate some stuff I probably wouldn't normally, but I thoroughly enjoyed everything. It was a good day. Also, I managed to get a little sun-kissed, er, sun-punched in the face, whilst on our tour.

FTD took us to a great breakfast spot right near her place before taking us to the airport to pick-up our rental car. Brief, but great SFO trip. On to LA. Via the PCH.
LTD driving, me navigating (begrudgingly). Before too long, we decided to stop for lunch. (Breakfast was at like 9, and it was now 1-ish for those of you thinking, "boy, they sure do eat a lot") We stopped in Santa Cruz and stumbled upon a place called, simply, "Burgers." It was pretty awesome. I had never heard of it, and don't know if it's a Cali chain or anything. But, if you're ever in Santa Cruz, I recommend it. Onward. We/LTD decides to drive the 17-mile drive on the Monteray Peninsula, which actually ended up being pretty cool. We continue on down the PCH, but actually want to get over to the 101 so as to not get into LA super late. This is impossible. We had to continue seeing breathtaking views for hours being able to cut over. Sidenote, I have taken over driving duties. After a dinner of chicken fingers from Jack in the Box, we arrive at our hotel in LA. It is different. Nice, but different.

LTD and I decide to eat breakfast in the hotel restaurant mainly because we don't know of any place else to eat. It is oh-my-gosh good. And equally expensive. LTD then leaves me to attend to business, and goes to get a facial. I reach out to all my contacts to try and set up lunches/meetings etc, which didn't go exactly as planned, but was still good. One guy who I had a lunch scheduled cancelled, and a producer I had worked with couldn't meet in person, but she and I talked on the phone. We chatted and I asked questions, which she said would probably be answered better by her casting director friend, so she gave me her info. The CD and I then exchanged emails for a while, and eventually she said she would pass on my headshot/resume to her commercial agent friend and try and set up a meeting for when I actually moved there, so that was a success. We then spent the rest of the day half sight-seeing half looking for places to live. For dinner, we finished off the day with some California Pizza Kitchen. When in Rome, right? Oh, those things are everywhere? Dang. Day two was really more of the same, as I was calling/emailing friends of friends, trying to get a network started before I moved, so that would already be taken care of when I got there. All of that went swimmingly. I separated from LTD for dinner as I met a fraternity brother from the college days. That was good although it turned into drinks as well, and I got back much later than LTD would've liked. Whoops. Admittedly, not a good move. We decided to finish off our LA stop with more of the delicious breakfast they served in the lobby. Back in the car.

The drive from LA to San Diego was considerably shortly than our first leg, but was littered with calls/texts from our tenant at 101 about the washer situation, which I won't get into here because it's a post in its own right. Wooo-saahh. Deep breaths. Oh, I was furious. Focus. We got into SD and checked into the hotel before meeting up with RBDIII for dinner and a baseball game. We ate at a great mexican place right by PETCO park, which was delicious. The baseball game was great fun, even though the Padres crushed the Braves. I am a Braves fan, RBDIII is a Pads fan. The next morning we dropped RBDIII off at work and had breakfast on Coronado, which was great. Then we just walked/drove around for a couple hours looking at all the different houses. Whose idea do you think that was? After picking RBDIII back up, we went back to the hotel to hang out for a minute before headed to grab an In-and-Out burger, which of course was tasty. Then we went to Balboa Park and walked around for a while. You know who else was at Balboa Park? Every wedding party in SD. No joke, they were everywhere. We bough some tickets to Shakespear's "Much Ado About Nothing" which was being performed in the outdoor theater that night. Had dinner back at the hotel, which was okay, then headed back to Balboa Park. The play was really good. We had front row seats, and it was just a delightful experience. Part of the play was literally at our feet. Like, we had to move them. We all thought we recognized different people in the play, and we did. Their TV credits all read like an encyclopedia of show's we've all seen. Pretty cool. RBDIII took us to a church he goes to, followed by fish tacos (again, delicious) at a local spot the patronize from time to time. Off to another baseball game (the Braves won the night before, so this was the rubber match). The Pads won, and a pitcher who I said was un-hittable(becuase he had been) got rocked. So, I wasn't thrilled, but it was still fun. For dinner we went to a place called Blue Fish Market (I think I got that right), and the line was forever long. It was worth it. All of our food was great. Save for the idiot people who can't follow instructions, it was a lovely experience.

The next morning, I took RBDIII to work, showered up and headed to the hotel to nap before LTD and I headed home. This time on Southwest. Not as awesome at Virgin. And we got home at 1 am. But, what a great trip. It was so fun getting to hang with 2 of the 3 other coastal BS's (sorry LDL!) I am looking forward to moving out there to continue my pursuit as an actor(dont tell LTD I'm looking forward to it). Anyway, I think that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed my trip as much as I did.