West Coast Journey the Second: L.A.

Hey, remember roughly 8 million years ago* when I wrote that post about our trip to Seattle and I said there would be a second post about our trip to L.A.? Look what I'm finally getting around to writing over a month after the trip!

As I mentioned in that previous post, the whole raison d'etre for our West Coast jaunt was because our friend was getting married in L.A. But since we love the place we figured if we're going to be all the way over there anyway, may as well visit Seattle again, which I realize is a bit like saying "Oh well if I'm going to be in NYC anyway, I may as well head down to Miami because these things are on the same side of the country, even if they are in no way actually near each other." But we did it.

The L.A. trip had a lot less sight seeing and lot more wedding-ing so this should be shorter.

After our stupid early flight from Seattle to L.A. we picked up our rental car and immediately got stuck in L.A. traffic, because sometimes stereotypes are true. It was like 11 in the morning at this point, in the middle of the work week, so I don't know what all of these people were doing on the road but they certainly weren't at work. Eventually we made our way to our friends' place. I say "our" friend and it's true, he is my friend as well but he is first and foremost Tom's friend. And since we live on opposite sides of the country, they don't get to see each other that often. Actually, it had been about 4 years by this point. So when we got there it was a bit like...

...OK, I wanted to use a gif of two people running in slow motion towards each other, which would be an accurate visualization, but I got some pushback and also couldn't find an acceptable gif, so let's go with this instead, which is equally as accurate.

It's guy love, that's all it is

And it was adorable. Also I got to meet our friend's (whom I will refer to as "Mike" for that is his name) future wife (Dani, her name), who is awesome so that was nice. We (meaning the whitest people aka Dani and I) sunscreened up and then we immediately went to a Dodgers game. This game is the reason we had to catch the ass-crack-of-dawn flight out of Seattle.

We had some great seats but OMG IT WAS FRY AN EGG ON THE SEAT HOT.

Dodgers played...someone. I don't know who because I spent the whole inning and a half we spent in our seats wondering when exactly I was going to give in and burst into flames. And inning and a half was all we did and instead spent the rest of the game wandering the stadium trying to find some shade. I know Tom and Mike could have braved the heat, but was grateful they didn't make us.

After the game (or roughly the 7th inning which Mike informed us is all Dodgers fans stay for anyway) we took a drive around downtown LA and then headed back to their house to relax. Dani and I ran some wedding errands cos, you know, they were getting married soon and Tom and Mike needed some boding time (meaning they played Madden and probably yelled at each other). After heading to a local brewery for dinner Tom and I went to Long Beach to check into our hotel and sleep. Sleep is good.

The next day we had no wedding-related tasks to attend to, so we headed over to Schooner or Later for brunch. Thank you, Megs, for that recommendation. Unfortunately even though I was in her city for the weekend, Megs was in San Francisco for the long weekend and thus we could not meet up. Star-crossed lovers, we are! S&L was delicious and I love them for A) seating us on the patio and then B) making it totally fine to have them put up an umbrella because OMG AGAIN WITH THE SUN.  Afterwards we made our way to this little town area and did some shopping (window and real) and made our way to a beach which was LOVELY. Unfortunately, because of the paleness, a beach trip for us (me) is never as simple as "Just put on your suit, grab a towel, go to beach." Buckets of sunscreen and umbrellas are involved. But we walked along it for awhile jealous of those that had this as their front yard. Especially jealous of the guy who wasn't right on the beach but said "Fuck that noise" and built himself a water tower house.

After all this beach-looking-at we were hungry so headed to this little Mexican place Dani recommended called Patricia's that was delicious and probably would have been way better had I noticed the salsa bar BEFORE finishing my food. Le sigh. But whatever, my pork was fantastic, even salsa-less.

That night we went to ANOTHER baseball game because of course we did. At least this time it was a night game. I like night games. And games when I'm in the shade. I especially like games where there's a waiter guy who brings me things. So I'm saying I enjoyed this game better, but still can't tell you who played. The Angels, I assume, as it is their stadium.**

The next morning was rehearsal time! Well, rehearsal time for Tom and others in the wedding. I mostly hung around and talked to Dani's family until it was time for me to eat. Which I did with gusto (mmm fish tacos). AND I had a giant margarita which I wasn't expecting when I ordered it, but don't worry, I didn't let it go to waste. Who cares if it wasn't noon yet?

That afternoon we hung around near the hotel in case we were needed for any wedding-related errands, so we mostly hung around The Pike and saw all the people camped out in preparation for the fireworks that night. We then picked up one of the other groomsmen and headed for In & Out Burger. I am sorry, L.A. inhabitants, because while I enjoyed the burger, it was no Shake Shack.

That night we headed back to the Pike to watch fireworks except they only lasted about 10 minutes so I have no pictures of this. I felt bad for the people who were there all day, except apparently this display wasn't unusual so I guess they knew what they were getting into.

Saturday July 5th was WEDDING DAY. It was a lazy day for me, doing things like writing that Gone Girl review despite having neither the book nor internet access. Tom had a few more responsibilities, what with being in the wedding and all, so he went and did stuff and I hung around being a bum until it was time to get dressed.

The wedding was BEAUTIFUL. It was outside at this little beach at this resort and Mike sang a song during the ceremony and it was so sweet. It was a very pretty ceremony followed but a fun reception and they were nice enough to seat me directly next to the bar, which was quite considerate. The DJ did a great job, they did the garter toss to the San Diego Super Chargers song because yeah they did.

We made our way back to the hotel AND managed to get some sleep which was good because the next day it was back to New York. And time to go through all of the last minute stuff before our wedding!

I promise, at some point I will get back to writing book reviews.

*Internet time is a lot like dog years, isn't it?
**From the time we started dating I wanted to make sure Tom knew I wasn't a sports fan. Not in a "I don't like things you like" way, but I didn't want to be someone who pretends to like something for the sake of a guy. Besides, I knew if I tried to go with this lie I'd never be able to sustain it. So I'm sure he's disappointed but not surprised I couldn't tell you who played in these games.