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Brew Review: This brew review is at the beginning of the day because the brew that I am referencing was a fine cup of coffee that Bryan prepared – (Jeremiah’s Coffee). While I don’t consider myself an expert, I do have enough experience with coffee to know when someone knows how to handle the grounds; it was a strong brew of dark coffee but without the acid that I normally associate with the darker roasts. It managed to wake the senses without twisting the dial on the digestive system to eleven.
Santa Cruz: It was a logical stop heading south from San Francisco – a seaside town and we think the setting for the greatest vampire movie (and best of the two Corey’s), The Lost Boys. The boardwalk was deserted and actually being worked on by a lot of construction workers. It was a cool little town, but due to boarded-up status, I was glad we had stopped for sandwiches in Palo Alto. The winding road and rainy conditions also convinced us that taking the Pacific Coast Highway would be less fun than imagined, and take a couple days to make it to LA.
A new driver! Shawley’s first car, the Super Sweet Geo Tracker Soft Top with the Pimped Rims (SSGTSTwPR) was a manual transmission. While he hasn’t had a car in five years, he still has the skills to handle the Beast so he took a long leg of driving which gave me some time update the blog, do some work, and stare aimlessly out the window. Excellent.
Salinas Valley: We cruised down to get to the 101, an ended up driving through an agricultural area with some bizarre looking plants along the side of the road. Thanks to a fortuitous wrong turn, we stopped at a roadside farm shop and had a chance to sample some fresh battered, deep-fried, and sprinkled with parmesan cheese – artichoke hearts that were served with a side of light ranch dressing for dipping. They were great – but they required the rest of the trip be performed with the vehicle windows partially open. We drove through the Salinas Valley, setting of the excellent Steinbeck novel, East of Eden.
Los Angeles: Because of the late start, it was already dark when we entered western Los Angeles along the coast highway of 101. We were running late of the plans for dinner with Lance and a couple of his friends so we kept a good pace but from the time we entered the Los Angeles Megalopolis (and its light-polution) to getting to Lance’s apartment downtown, it was still an additional hour of travel over 70mph. Luckily we made it to Lance’s before 9pm and actually ended up waiting for his friend Tia to finish drying her hair so we were not the late constraint. We drove out to Arcadia to meet up with Tia’s sister Hao (pronounced ‘huh-wah’) who managed to get a table for five at a restaurant that was closing when we arrived. We had dumplings at what they claimed to be the best shanghai-nese dumpling restaurant, Din Tai Fung (with only one location in the united states – a strip mall in Arcadia). Then we went next door to a little restaurant with a broad array of asian desserts and sampled the dark sticky rice, and the tofu with mango, and durian custard.
After dropping the ladies off, we went back to Lance’s loft apartment at a historic building that was once the Los Angeles Train Station and the scene of such movies as LA Confidential, Face Off, and Spiderman. In anticipation of sleeping on the concrete floor (which I actually prefer for my back), we went out for a drink at Broadway Bar, which was crowded so we left after ten minutes of being ignored by the bartender, and instead we went a couple more blocks for a couple of Newcastle’s at the Golden Gopher. We finished the night by watching youtube videos of Japanese candid camera where old people at a spa are surprised by being flipped out a trap door onto a ski slope (usually losing their towel) to our great amusement.
Comments: If you want to make a comment, but can’t deal with Google or don’t want to make a broadcast, go ahead and shoot me an email – we are open to suggestions and ideas. Cannonballing: The leisurely style of the trip has taken a hit, but for the greater goodness of spending quality time with people who have more time constraints than I do at this time. The mosey will be resumed early next week.
Pics: a) the lady making the fried artichokes for us; b) bryan in front of the artichoke field; c) sunset over the pacific at pismo;
Santa Cruz: It was a logical stop heading south from San Francisco – a seaside town and we think the setting for the greatest vampire movie (and best of the two Corey’s), The Lost Boys. The boardwalk was deserted and actually being worked on by a lot of construction workers. It was a cool little town, but due to boarded-up status, I was glad we had stopped for sandwiches in Palo Alto. The winding road and rainy conditions also convinced us that taking the Pacific Coast Highway would be less fun than imagined, and take a couple days to make it to LA.
A new driver! Shawley’s first car, the Super Sweet Geo Tracker Soft Top with the Pimped Rims (SSGTSTwPR) was a manual transmission. While he hasn’t had a car in five years, he still has the skills to handle the Beast so he took a long leg of driving which gave me some time update the blog, do some work, and stare aimlessly out the window. Excellent.
Salinas Valley: We cruised down to get to the 101, an ended up driving through an agricultural area with some bizarre looking plants along the side of the road. Thanks to a fortuitous wrong turn, we stopped at a roadside farm shop and had a chance to sample some fresh battered, deep-fried, and sprinkled with parmesan cheese – artichoke hearts that were served with a side of light ranch dressing for dipping. They were great – but they required the rest of the trip be performed with the vehicle windows partially open. We drove through the Salinas Valley, setting of the excellent Steinbeck novel, East of Eden.
Los Angeles: Because of the late start, it was already dark when we entered western Los Angeles along the coast highway of 101. We were running late of the plans for dinner with Lance and a couple of his friends so we kept a good pace but from the time we entered the Los Angeles Megalopolis (and its light-polution) to getting to Lance’s apartment downtown, it was still an additional hour of travel over 70mph. Luckily we made it to Lance’s before 9pm and actually ended up waiting for his friend Tia to finish drying her hair so we were not the late constraint. We drove out to Arcadia to meet up with Tia’s sister Hao (pronounced ‘huh-wah’) who managed to get a table for five at a restaurant that was closing when we arrived. We had dumplings at what they claimed to be the best shanghai-nese dumpling restaurant, Din Tai Fung (with only one location in the united states – a strip mall in Arcadia). Then we went next door to a little restaurant with a broad array of asian desserts and sampled the dark sticky rice, and the tofu with mango, and durian custard.
After dropping the ladies off, we went back to Lance’s loft apartment at a historic building that was once the Los Angeles Train Station and the scene of such movies as LA Confidential, Face Off, and Spiderman. In anticipation of sleeping on the concrete floor (which I actually prefer for my back), we went out for a drink at Broadway Bar, which was crowded so we left after ten minutes of being ignored by the bartender, and instead we went a couple more blocks for a couple of Newcastle’s at the Golden Gopher. We finished the night by watching youtube videos of Japanese candid camera where old people at a spa are surprised by being flipped out a trap door onto a ski slope (usually losing their towel) to our great amusement.
Comments: If you want to make a comment, but can’t deal with Google or don’t want to make a broadcast, go ahead and shoot me an email – we are open to suggestions and ideas. Cannonballing: The leisurely style of the trip has taken a hit, but for the greater goodness of spending quality time with people who have more time constraints than I do at this time. The mosey will be resumed early next week.
Pics: a) the lady making the fried artichokes for us; b) bryan in front of the artichoke field; c) sunset over the pacific at pismo;
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Like it is:
Today Miles: 450; Trip Miles: 4,556
Price of Gas in Palo Alto, CA: $3.35
Number of times Bryan used ‘gnar’ as short for ‘gnarly’: 11
Longest Coast: 2.2mi
Filling / Gourmet Dinner for 5: $62.50
One Pint Newcastle at Golden Golpher: $5.50
CHiPs Cruisers seen: 3
Erik Estrada coolness factor when we were kids: 10
Current coolness hawking desert real estate: 2
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1 comment:
Her name is spelled Hoai!
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