I am trying to collect as many stamps as possible here in the Southwest before I move, so Denise suggested we spend a weekend in California at her condo so I could get the Santa Monica stamp.
It ended up being quite the traumatic weekend! SoCal is oh so glamorous, but definitely not for me!
The first mishap was a blown out tire on the freeway about 45 minutes from Dana Point. There was something small in the road that appeared out of nowhere. I hit it and the tire immediately went flat. It was kind of scary, but more than that, I just felt so bad about it! Brian had to come out and change the tire for us; it was a late night. The tire was under warranty, so it was only $20 to fix, but I still felt terrible that it happened while I was driving.
The next morning, Denise insisted that I take their car up to Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. 5 minutes away from home, I was rear-ended at a stoplight. The damage was minimal, but still- super stressful! I was so nervous driving for the rest of the day. The only good part of the drive was seeing the Hollywood sign; I totally screamed when I saw that. Traffic sucked, and I vowed to never drive in southern California again. (Until my friend sent me an article on FB the other day about a book store that only carries romance novels. It's in Culver City. Darn it! Now I have to go back.)
Santa Monica Mountains was so beautiful! I just did a short hike in Solstice Canyon. I saw these flowers and thought they were something exotic and rare, but it turns out they were Bird of Paradise, which apparently is a flower everyone has seen except for me. But they were still lovely!
Then I went to the beach near Malibu, where I relaxed and read the new Rob Bell book. I did not want to leave!
It ended up being quite the traumatic weekend! SoCal is oh so glamorous, but definitely not for me!
The first mishap was a blown out tire on the freeway about 45 minutes from Dana Point. There was something small in the road that appeared out of nowhere. I hit it and the tire immediately went flat. It was kind of scary, but more than that, I just felt so bad about it! Brian had to come out and change the tire for us; it was a late night. The tire was under warranty, so it was only $20 to fix, but I still felt terrible that it happened while I was driving.
The next morning, Denise insisted that I take their car up to Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. 5 minutes away from home, I was rear-ended at a stoplight. The damage was minimal, but still- super stressful! I was so nervous driving for the rest of the day. The only good part of the drive was seeing the Hollywood sign; I totally screamed when I saw that. Traffic sucked, and I vowed to never drive in southern California again. (Until my friend sent me an article on FB the other day about a book store that only carries romance novels. It's in Culver City. Darn it! Now I have to go back.)
Santa Monica Mountains was so beautiful! I just did a short hike in Solstice Canyon. I saw these flowers and thought they were something exotic and rare, but it turns out they were Bird of Paradise, which apparently is a flower everyone has seen except for me. But they were still lovely!
Then I went to the beach near Malibu, where I relaxed and read the new Rob Bell book. I did not want to leave!
As soon as I got back in the car, things got stressful again. I was trying to track down some beer for my brother. I had this plan to stop at the Whole Foods in Brentwood because (according to US Weekly) that's where all the celebrities live. But I couldn't find parking and there was so much traffic and when I finally pulled over and started calling around, NO ONE had this beer. I needed to get dinner but I had to get out of the Santa Monica area, so I ended up at a Which Wich in L.A. So much for glamorous! I was just happy to find a place with parking. Normally I am fine with big city driving, but the events of the past 24 hours plus driving someone else's car was just too much for me.
I'm so glad I took this trip, but I definitely won't be returning to Cali for a while. Unless someone else is driving. Or it involves Disneyland. I'm willing to compromise all my principles for a trip to Disneyland.
I'm so glad I took this trip, but I definitely won't be returning to Cali for a while. Unless someone else is driving. Or it involves Disneyland. I'm willing to compromise all my principles for a trip to Disneyland.
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