Sunny SoCal!

For those of you not "in the know"... SoCal is slang for Southern California. Finally I got a real vacation this summer, where I didn't bring, or do, any form of work related to school. I had five action-packed days in the sunny south. Brad was an awesome host, taking me all over LA and SoCal in search of everything from Laguna Beach and 11,000 foot-peaks in the desert, to McDreamy's ABC studios, the Hollywood sign, Malibu, and Sunset Blvd.

I think the best way to show all of the trip would be a picture recap... from start to finish.

Day 1...

On my first day in Cali, I rented a bike and rode along the beaches from Santa Monica to Hermosa Beach and back... 20 miles over the course of the day. Venice beach was an interesting stop along the way with various random shops, graffiti and "interesting characters".

Santa Monica Blvd.

YAY Vacation!!

On the bluffs in Santa Monica...

Santa Monica Beach...

This is where the muscle heads go to work out... on the beach. Santa Monica Pier in the background...

Palms at Santa Monica

Hermosa Ave...

Hermosa Beach...

The Venice Beach sculpture...

Venice Beach

Day 2...

Day two brought a hung-over trip to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. Oh ya, hung over because we went out to a club in Santa Monica the night before (no pics though, sadly). In anycase... Rodeo Drive was fun, again, great weather! Fendi, Versace, Prada, Tiffany's... to name a few. So much trendy stuff...

Fancy schmancy.....

Rodeo Drive!

Entering Via Rodeo

Via Rodeo... Tiffany's, Versace etc... you know, the usual.

Prada!

Day 2 continued with a 2.5 hours traffic jam on the 405 in weekend-get-away traffic, followed by a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway from Newport Beach in Orange County down to San Diego. After finding a cheap place to crash, we went out in San Diego's "Gas Lamp District", although, unfortunately, I forgot my camera :(.


Laguna Beach... our dinner stop along the Pacific Coast Highway, enroute to San Diego...

Me in the surf at Laguna Beach...

Day 3...

This day we woke up in San Diego... went to what we "thought" was Pacific Beach... then hit the highways once again to head to Palm Springs and Mt. San Jacinto, one of the highest peaks in Southern California.


The only pic I managed to get of San Diego. Definitely want to go back and see more!

Taking the tram up the canyon to the start of the hike on Mt. San Jacinto in Palm Springs.

Photo op... Brad and I at 9,700 feet.

1,134 feet to go...

Almost there....

Made it to the top! Mt. San Jacinto... elevation, 10,834 feet.

Me pondering the meaning of life atop Mt. San Jacinto... panoramic styles

Brad pondering the meaning of life atop Mt. San Jacinto...

360 degree view from here...

Brad and I on top of Mt. San Jacinto.. what a view!

Day 4...

This day I attempted surfing. There are no pictures, and for this I am glad. Surfing is HARD. Instead I boogie-boarded the waves... much less frustrating than attempting to stand on Brad's 10-foot long board. Congrats to Brad for "getting up" for the first time. We then went to Malibu... no celebrity sightings to report. Back to Santa Monica for some volleyball and boogie boarding before the day was done...

The "classic" Santa Monica sunset shot... with the pier in the background...

After boogie-boarding in Santa Monica...

Day 5... last day :(

My last in SoCal I took my rollerblades down to the beach at Santa Monica and rollerbladed down to Venice Beach to soak up the sun and play in the water. The last evening Brad took me on a driving tour of Hollywood, "the Valley", and the Sunset Strip. To be honest, its all kinda over-rated. I did get to see the standard Hollywood sign (from a top-secret, close-up location... but in the dark, so no pic...), all of the studios in the valley (including some "adult entertainment" ones)... the chinese Theatre and Kodak Theatre... Walk of Fame, etc... It was at night and in a moving vehicle... so I didn't bother taking pics... my memory will serve me just fine. We capped the night off attempting to get drinks at the swanky "The Standard" Hotel... but after being bitterly ignored by the waitress, we decided to go across the street to a much less pretentious bar and grab a Corona instead.


Surfers at Venice Beach

This hottie lifeguard was great eye-candy at Venice Beach on my last day. Damn, and just when I thought I was tanned...

One of the last shots of me taken on my vacation in sunny Cali... at Venice Beach.

I almost forgot! Last stop on the driving tour was "In and Out" Burger... a Los Angeles/SoCal Staple joint. They only have like 5 things on the menu. Burger, Cheese Burger, Double Cheeseburger, fries and drinks. Mmmmm. My SoCal experience was complete!

The next morning we had to wake up at 4:30am so Brad could get to work on time. To complete my LA experience, we saw a high-speed chase at 5 in the morning.

Great times were had... awesome way to cap-off a jam-packed summer! Thanks for being a great host Brad!

I'm back!

I know its been awhile, but here are the highlights from my summer... in mostly picture-form.

Back in June...

After my fabulous stay with the lovely Andrea and Courtney, I ventured off to the Baltic on a cruise with my grandma... many of you reading this will have gotten the email updates, so I will just post the brief itinerary here with some pics from various places...

Copenhagen, Denmark to Tallin, Estonia, to St. Petersburg, Russia, to Helsinki, Finland, to Stockholm, Sweden, to Visby, Sweden to Aarhus, Denmark back to Copenhagen. We always sailed overnight and were in a new place every morning. Here is the picture-recap!

Fact. There are more Bikes than people in Denmark.

Amsterdam? Nope, Copenhagen, Denmark

Tallin, Estonia.

Catherine the Great's Palace. St. Petersburg, Russia

Church of the Spilt Blood, St. Petersburg, Russia

Russian dancers... and me! St. Petersburg, Russia.

Gram and me in Helsinki, Finland

Stockholm, Sweden

Visby, Sweden

Sunset in Warnemunde, Germany.

Berlin... and what is left of the wall...

Aarhus

Cruise Crew!

What do you do when over 99% of the cruise is over 55 years old? You Find that other 1%. It didn't take long to find them... they were the ones still up at 10:30pm too.

Enter Emma.
Yay young people!

Young people... yay! The Crow's Nest... the ONLY place to be, EVERY night...

Those poor bears...

Whatchu lookin' at...mmmm...Long Island Iced Tea... mmmm officer... err... oops.

Fun times at the Crow's Nest with a German, Japanese cowgirl, and the English and Scottish Engineers all hot in their formal wear...

Awe.