Day 41: San Diego, CA

I went to the zoo. I'll add details later.

Day 40: San Diego

It was another lazy morning. Around 10:00 Laura and I went to the Wild Animal Park. It was awesome. My only complaint is that you had to pay an admission fee and that came with a 20 minute bus tour, but then everything else costs extra. Parking is $10. If you want to pet the giraffes, it's an extra $70. Riding a Segway is another $80! Outrageous. But it was still worth it. The animals look so much happier than the ones at zoos.

Here are some photos I took.

I've given up on asking adults to take photos with my iPhone. They never know what to do! If you give your iPhone to a 10 year old, they know exactly how it works. It really saves a lot of time. Here's some fine work done by a young person:

Day 39: San Diego

I love San Diego! You probably got that in my last blog entry. Things are really laid back here. I relax all day and then rest afterwards. It's nice. I think I might have a tough time transitioning back into normal life. That's not something I need to worry about now, however.

I started out the day slowly - sleeping in, eating breakfast, hanging out in Laura's backyard. Then Laura and I picked up her friend, Brooke, and went to Torrey Pines. It was beautiful! We walked along the beach. Then we went to La Jolla and I came across this amazing store called Warwicks. It sells office supplies, gifts, stationary, and books! It doesn't get better than that!

I got myself the most amazing box of pens ever. Check it out:

I may have gotten a second set for someone else. That lucky person will find out who they are when I return.

After strolling around La Jolla I was starving and wanted Pinkberry. There are only two locations in San Diego and I thought one of them was in La Jolla, but I was wrong. They did have other yogurt shops, so I tried them out. The first place was called Beans & Berries. It's one of those self-serve yogurt places. I've figured out that those places, while they all have different names, get their yogurt from a single supplier and that yogurt is not very good. It's not in the same league as Pinkberry or Tangysweet. I sampled a couple flavors and decided I didn't like the yogurt at Beans & Berries, so we tried another place, but they didn't have soft-serve. I forget the name. Brooke said that there was an absolutely amazing yogurt place near her house, called Bogart's, that everyone loves and she was certain that they made their yogurt in-house. On the way to Bogart's we passed another yogurt shop and they had the gross self-serve yogurt too! This time I didn't even try any samples. I already knew it wasn't up to par. At this point, Laura said that she was now on a mission to find yogurt that met my standards. I told her I liked her spirit. We went to Bogart's and I tried a couple of flavors, and decided I didn't like it. Brooke wasn't actually offended. Finally, Laura took me to Pinkberry downtown. It was so good! She tried some too and agreed that it was heavenly.

If you didn't know me and you just read the previous paragraph, you'd probably think I was the highest maintenance person in America and possibly even the whole world. And some people who do know me would also say I'm the highest maintenance person in America. But I don't think I am. I'm just particular about a few things. One of them happens to be yogurt. Just so you are aware, the other things I'm really picky about are hair and makeup products, food in general, anything that's scented, and people. Other than that, I'm pretty low maintenance. :)

I can deal with challenging situations and I don't mind working hard (usually).

That evening Laura, Brooke, and I went to Old Town to get some legit Mexican food. It was yummy. Here's a photo of us after dinner:

Brooke, me, Laura

Then we went into a five and dime in Old Town and I found some tacky souvenirs that rival the ones at Wall Drug. Check 'em out:

#1: A belly button lint brush made of part of a pipe cleaner and a bead and glued on to a business card of sorts. I wouldn't normally count this as a souvenir, except that San Diego was stamped on the back of the card.

#2: A San Diego nail file. This reminds me of something one of my former principals gave me that I still have. It was a nail file that said Houston Independent School District Department of Special Education. Really?! They spent district money on this thing?! Outrageous. Of course that pales in comparison to the offenses of the DCPS Office of Special Education, but we won't go into that right now.

#3: A painted shell
#4: A bottle opener on a bathing suit clad figure. Do you notice that he has a 5 pack? Where is his other ab muscle?
#5: A San Diego Snowman (a.k.a. a $7 plastic container of water with a little plastic hat, carrot, and coal floating in it)
#6: A Hillbilly "Brief" Case

#7: A John Deere bucket with corn handle
#8: A photo frame adorned with a handgun and bullets
#9: A treasure chest full of cold coins and a skull
#10: A smiling shark pirate sitting on a log, surrounded by his treasures, with a pearl in one hand

Then I also saw these shirts, which I thought were just heinous. I'm all for religious freedom, but this isn't about beliefs. It's about style, and these shirts are unacceptable.

Days 37 & 38: San Diego (part 3)

Check out the amazing pizza Laura and I made last night:

We made it with Trader Joe's herb pizza dough, olive oil, garlic, tomato sauce, asiago, provolone, parmesan, and fontina cheeses, mushrooms, and topped it with fresh chopped basil and arugula. It was so good.

Days 37 & 38: San Diego (part 2)

My friend Laura gave me a great book about San Diego, which I used to make this list. Laura is the friend I'm staying with. She's from Ohio. I know her from Harvard Ed School. We took Tom Hehir's classes together and had mutual friends. Then we both moved to DC. Laura helped me paint my first apartment and buy furniture for it. She left DC in 2006 to found a High Tech High in Albuquerque and then moved to San Diego about 3 years ago and still works at HTH.

To Do list for San Diego:

1. Wild Animal Park
2. Zoo
3. Lie in the hammock in Laura's backyard/garden/patio/dining room
4. Go to the beach
5. La Jolla
6. Balboa Park
7. Biking
8. Hiking
9. Eat legit Mexican food
10. Pinkberry
11. Hang out with Justin Nash (friend from college/genius physicist/meathead/my little brother - he dated my roommate, Brighid, and then I dated one of his best friends, Dave, so we had lots of platonic sleepovers)
12. Visit Laura's school

I'll add more when I think of it.

Days 37 & 38: San Diego

San Diego

pros:

1. Perfect weather
2. Unpretentious
3. Everyone wears flip-flops all the time
4. People are friendly
5. Beach
6. You can get anywhere by bike
7. Perfect weather
8. It has cute little houses that are close together
9. Laid back
10. Everyone's outside all the time

cons:

1. Far away from DC people
2. You hear everything that everyone else says and does because everyone's outside all the time. Even when people are inside you can hear them because everyone has their doors open
3. Expensive
4. No jobs
5. The state of California is bankrupt
6. The Governator

Day 36: Monterey to LA to San Diego

Day 36 involved a lot of driving. I woke up early and left Monterey at about 8:30 AM because I needed to arrive at the Culver City Studios by 4:00 PM for The Bonnie Hunt Show. My drive was relatively uneventful, but at 3:00 PM I was sitting in LA traffic and not moving. It was pretty clear at that point that I wouldn't be able to arrive by the 4:00 deadline. I hadn't eaten since 7:00 AM, so needless to say, I was getting a bit hangry. Traffic and hangriness are not a good combination.

I called Amanda, the director of audience whatever at The Bonnie Hunt Show, and much to my surprise, she answered the phone! I didn't even have to talk to a computer. I explained the situation and she was really nice. She said that she would hold two tickets for me and to just get to the studio as soon as I can.

I went to Venice to pick up my friend Katie, whom I know from high school. She and Lauren, another friend of mine from high school, live a stone's throw from the beach. It's not bad.

We got to the studios at 5:30. Oops! It turned out to be fine. The guy who greeted us at the entrance said, "Danielle?" It was kinda weird that he knew my name. Then another girl came to take us to the girl who had our passes. Here's a photo of us wearing our passes.

Then they took our iPhones. It was a little traumatic. It felt like we were being punished. I mean, it's true that the information packet said that we weren't allowed to bring cell phones or cameras, but we needed our phones to find the studios, so we had to bring them! We thought if we just silenced them, they might let us bring them in. We were wrong. They promised to give them back at the end of the taping, but we were still tentative. Fortunately they handed out hot dogs and root beer to everyone and we were sufficiently distracted from the phone situation.

The show was awesome! I didn't really care about the first guest, Jenna Elfman, but the other two guests were fabulous. Chris Kattan, from Saturday Night Live, came on next. I love him. Estelle Harris, the woman who played George Costanza's mom on Seinfeld, was the third guest. She is hilarious! The show airs on Monday on NBC.

After the show, Katie and I went to Pinkberry. OMG - it was even better than I expected. And like the former TFA Corps Member that I am, I had high expectations! It's better than Tangysweet. I never thought I'd utter those words, but it's true. And according to their website, there's gonna be one in DC! I can't wait. Here's some photos I took at Pinkberry:

The sign

My new BFF

Katie and me

Me and Katie

Original/Pomegranate twist with mangoes, blueberries, and banana. Mmmmm...

After Pinkberry we went back to Katie and Lauren's place and Lauren was home from work. It was so good to see her, even though I barely recognized her. In high school she was a total hippie - dreadlocks, patchwork pants, went on Phish tour, etc. She even sewed a little pocket into her homemade patchwork purse to keep her cigarette butts in because she didn't want to leave them on the ground. Even though I've seen her probably more than dozen times since high school, it never ceases to amaze me that she's now the anti-hippie. She wears dresses and make up and jewelry that's not made of hemp, her hair is long and brushable, she wears heels!!, and she doesn't carry her stinky cigarette butts with her anymore. Here's a photo of the two of us. I don't know if I mentioned this, but she's also miniature - probably about 4'11" and 80 lbs. soaking wet. That's how I can be sure it's really her.

LA was the one city I didn't plan for at all, other than getting tickets to Bonnie Hunt. I have several friends who live there, but I didn't contact any of them until the day before I arrived. Aubrey, my friend from St. Mary's, was super busy so I didn't get to see her. My friends Peter and Michael live there too, and I waited until I was already in LA to contact them. They're actually the little brothers of two of my friends from high school, Courteney and Corinne respectively, but now that we're out of high school and a two year age difference isn't a big deal, I guess I can call them my friends. Peter was out of town and Michael was in class until 11:00, so I didn't see them either. Next time I think I'll call my friends ahead of time. I decided to just go to San Diego.

When I was stuck in LA traffic, I set my GPS to "avoid highways" (yes, I have started using it again). When I left for San Diego, I forgot that it was set to "avoid highways", so I spent the first hour and a half of my drive on local roads in LA. I thought it was really strange that I hadn't gotten to a highway yet, and then I remembered. Oops.

While on my extensive and unintended driving tour of LA, I discovered there were many similarities between LA and Houston. I wanted to make a venn diagram (you know, it's used to compare things - it has two circles that overlap in the middle and you put the similarities in the middle part and the differences in the non-overlapping parts), but I don't know how to do it on my computer and there's never enough space for the similarities anyway, unless you draw it on a dry-erase board or chalkboard and write really small, so I'm going to try a different format - a list and a t-chart (minus the "T" because I don't know how to do that either).

Similarities between Houston and LA

• sprawl
• lots of driving
• crazy drivers
• streets are impossible to navigate
• lots of highways
• hot weather
• rampant consumerism
• lots of good Mexican food
• lots of Mexican people
• they love their sports teams
• some people are very rich, while others are very poor
• TFA site
• lots of advertisements for plastic surgery
• lots of evidence of plastic surgery
• strip malls
• bad public transportation
• great restaurants
• drive-thru coffee
• never snows
• palm trees

Differences between Houston and LA:

Houston: LA:

Texas California

fat fit

smog fog

oil tycoons celebrities

the rodeo Rodeo Drive

humid not very humid

industrial wasteland beach

trucks & SUVs smartcars & convertibles

I'll add more to both lists as I think of it.

Day 35: Monterey, CA

I was so happy when I looked out my window this morning and saw the sun shining and then I went out on my balcony and it was nice and warm. I immediately biked to the beach. Unfortunately by the time I got there (it took a total of 4 minutes), there was a thick fog in the sky. Ugh. I hate fog! It was so cold and I was wearing a tank top and capris. While I was riding I passed a guy on a unicycle. I don't get it. Is that really a practical mode of transportation? I rode for a couple hours and then finally saw some sun, so I relaxed on the beach for a little while.

I had lunch at Amarin Thai, one of the best Thai restaurants in America. After lunch I found another self-serve yogurt place. This time I made it out of there with a yogurt that was less than $5.00. It was good, but not as good as Tangysweet, and still too heavy on the toppings.

I strolled around Pacific Grove and Cannery Row and then went back to relax on the beach. After a couple of hours the fog returned, so I went back to my hotel and relaxed after my day of relaxing.

In the morning I head to LA. I have tickets to a taping of The Bonnie Hunt Show. They won't say who the guest(s) will be - it's a secret. I wonder if I'll be on TV. I think the show airs on Monday or maybe the following Monday. I'll let you know when I know for sure.

Day 34: San Francisco to Monterey

The Pacific Coast is absolutely gorgeous ... when you can see it, that is. It was bright and sunny when I woke up in San Francisco. I packed up my things and went to Menlo Park to have lunch with the Crippens. We lived in the same apartment complex for the first two years of my life and I've been getting birthday cards and presents from them ever since. They don't have any children of their own, so they kind of adopted me as their grandchild. Here's a photo of me, my mom, and the Crippens on Christmas morning in 1980. It's a photo of a photo, so the quality isn't very good, but you get the idea.

And here's a photo of my dad, my brother, and me when we visited the Crippens in 1987.

Here's a photo of the Crippens now:

And here's a photo of me and Eleanor:

It was great to see them.

After lunch I went to Palo Alto. I drove by the hospital where I was born. Then I went to Stanford Shopping Center - the prettiest mall in America. It's outdoors. They used to have special, unique stores, but now they have the same stores as every other mall in America (well, every other very high-end mall) so I didn't go in to any of the shops. Check out the interior of the mall:

After that, I walked around downtown Stanford. I found a tart yogurt shop. It's a self-service yogurt bar, so you get a cup, fill it up with the yogurt of your choice, and add the toppings you want, and then you pay by the ounce. The cups are huge, so I was careful not to get too much yogurt, but then it was all over once I got to the toppings. I put on too many strawberries and then had to put on an equal amount of mangoes and then I asked about banana slices and it turned out they did have them, in the back, so they brought them out and added them to my yogurt. I ended up with a $7.00 yogurt. Ridiculous. The yogurt wasn't even good. Fortunately the people watching was awesome.

Then I headed south on Route 1. It was really foggy for almost the entire trip, so I didn't get to enjoy the views. Here's a photo I took at 5:00 PM:

I decided to stay the night in Monterey. Today the weather is supposed to be beautiful. First I'm going to go on a bike ride and then I'm going to go to the beach. I might stay here again tonight. We'll see.

Gotta go!