Day 14- San Diego and LA

Hello Hello,
We woke up pretty early this morning, partly because of my alarm and partly because dump trucks were possibly in the middle of some nuclear war outside our room..ok maybe not but it certainly sounded like it. Having a room on the very end unit of the hotel is quite noisy. Anyway we woke up and headed over to the continental breakfast. I must have slept on my back weird last night because it is in a lot of pain this morning but nothing that 4 ibuprofin can't fix. We packed up and were ready early. We got a map of San Diego and headed to the Seaport Village which looked cute on the map. The map didn't lie- it turned out to be a little village of shops and restaurants, kind of like that little village we used to go to in Brigantine.
We walked around, saw adorable little baby ducklings with their momma, and ate at a little cafe which had a delicious tuna melt. We then walked over to this area that seemed like a WWII memorial, they had a great big navy ship that you could tour (if you paid of course--we just admired the free outside view). They also had big statues and such. It was very neat. We walked around the little village some more and then headed back to L.A.
The drive back was of course more stressful than the drive out of L.A., suddenly traffic was very heavy again. But we managed and arrived at our hotel in a little over two hours. The hotel is right near the airport so in the morning we won't have to go far and it is very nice! We checked in, took our bags up to our room, and then headed over to McDonald's to get some french fries- yum!
We are getting ready to head to dinner and get a drink now. We aren't positive yet where we are going but we are so sad this is our last night and we want to celebrate and do something fun! This trip has been absolutely amazing and we can't believe 2 weeks flew by so fast!!
Tomorrow morning our flight leaves at about 9 in the morning. We have a direct flight that will take roughly 5 hours-yikes! Can't wait to see everyone when we get home!

Day 13- San Diego

Hello All,
Today we woke up to a bright sunny day! We headed to our continental breakfast (which included little donuts), watched a little of the news (watched the jury read the verdict of the Casey Anthony trial), lathered up the sunscreen, and headed in the direction of the beach. It was about 10 or so blocks away but soon we were at the foot of the Hotel Del Coronado. This hotel sits right on the beach and it absolutely incredible. We had a little trouble trying to figure out how to get around the hotel and to the beach but soon we were there. Our toes in the sand. HOT sand. We were so excited. This was our official real beach day because even when we sat with Matt and Angel, it was chilly and we never got to take off our cover ups. Today we layed our towels down and stretched out in our bikinis soaking up the warm, very bright sun. We weren't there for long when this huge group of Asian people swarmed the area. This one man walked about 10 feet away from us, gave us the thumbs up sign, and then proceeded to take our picture. Awkward! The big group then headed down to the water to take pictures of everything..seaweed, random kids building a sand castle, the water. Plus they were all dressed in dress pants or skirts and shoes stayed on. It was very bizarre. The asian women took lots of pictures of each other in very odd poses. As quickly as they came though, they were gone and we went back to relaxing on the sand.
It didn't take long before we were very hot. We gathered up our stuff and headed on our journey along the water to the Naval Base..we were determined to see a Navy Seal while we were there. It was quite a walk but it was nice and cool by the water. Next thing we knew we were surrounded by dogs! We had reached the dog section of beach, "dog run". They were everywhere!! Big ones, little ones, old ones, puppies. They were chasing balls, jumping in the water, laying on the towel with their owners, or just running around like maniacs playing with each other. It was so fun to watch! We quickly spotted the big fence ahead of us though and realized we had reach the Navy Base. While we walked up from the beach to the gates of the base, we spotted him-- a Navy Seal, he HAD to be! Of course we weren't allowed in the base but it was very neat just to see.
We then walked back to town and headed to McP's bar and restaurant. This place is advertised as the place where Seals go. Of course none were there but the beer was cold and the jalapeno poppers were delicious! After awhile, we walked around town some before getting Dip-n-Dots-YAY- and heading back to our room.
Somehow I got some kind of stomach bug type thing and wasn't feeling well so Jen and I relaxed and vegged out in front of the tv. We intended to get up again and go out later but before we knew it, it was late. We are low on funds and I still wasn't feeling great so we ate a pop tart and some snacks we have here and just rested.

Optimism Column:
-after spending so much time looking for stars in Hollywood- it was kind of fun to be treated like the movie stars, getting our picture taken
-Navy Seals should be required to wear a shirt at all times that says "I am a Navy Seal"
-apparently sunscreen needs to be reapplyed after wearing a backpack to the beach or you get an awkward strap shaped sunburn

There was a restaurant called Brigantine!!

Hotel Del Coronado

Day 12- Hermosa Beach and San Diego

Happy 4th of July Everyone!!!
We spent most of the morning hanging out with Matt and Angel. Had a delicious Bacon, Egg, and Cheese on a Bagel at a local deli. Then we headed to San Diego. It was an easy drive, only 2 hours or so, and finally we were out of that LA traffic! It was late afternoon, we checked into our hotel, the Coronado Inn, and were very pleased with our room. It's a smaller hotel that actually uses real keys for the rooms rather than those credit card plastic ones. We walked down Orange Ave, the main road here, and found a place to get dinner. We had a sub and also picked up some mini Mudslides.
After eating, we followed the large crowd headed toward the water. We found a good spot and around 9 the fireworks started! They were probably the coolest fireworks I've ever seen! There were fireworks in the shape of smilie faces and hearts. There is just something great about fireworks. All the kids around us were all excited, of course some were crying also, but it's always fun to watch. We headed back to our room, enjoyed a mudslide, and called it an early night.

Pretty sunset

I tried so hard to get us with the fireworks in the background..it never happened.

Drinking our little mudslides :)

Day 11- Hollywood and Hermosa Beach

We woke up today, quickly ate our continental breakfast, got ready and hopped out the door (ok it took longer than a hop because we had to lug our bags down the street to the Trader Joe's where our car was) but anyway we loaded up and were off.
We headed to Hollywood Boulevard and got a parking spot right next to Tom Hank's star. We walked down the block, stopping in little shops along the way and then we spotted it. The Hollywood sign. We crossed over the street and went up into this outdoor building where we could take pictures. There is something alittle bit magical about being in Hollywood. It's crowded, filled with people taking pictures of every single damn star on the sidewalk, clausterphobic at times, and chaotic- we are always in the very touristy places on the weekends. BUT it's Hollywood -the land of movie stars- and that in itself makes it magical. (whenever I say Hollywood I inevitably start quoting Pretty Woman "What's your dream? Everybodies got a dream in Hollywood."
We walked around a bit more, got these amazing strawberry lemonade smoothies and then headed to Hermosa beach. It took about forty minutes or so to get to Matt's house and then another 20 minutes driving in circles to find a place to park. We then called a cab which picked us up and we headed to the Hermosa Pier. Since today is July 3rd, many people are already celebrating the holiday and the pier was very crowded. We met up with Matt in a little surf shop and met his girlfriend Angel who was gorgeous and about a size 0 -seems to be the norm in California. She was very sweet and we headed to the beach where Jen and I finally got to sit in the sand while Matt and Angel played volleyball with some other people on the beach. It was absolutely beautiful in the morning but of course by the time we got to the beach it was kind of cloudy (which Matt says is usual in the late afternoon but usually gets sunny again by like 5pm) but we weren't complaining, we were happy just to sit and watch with our toes in the sand.
We then headed to a little Mexican restaurant where we got chips and salsa (addicting) and mango margaritas! When we were finished Matt and Angel headed to the beach again to play more volleyball and Jen and I headed to walk around and look at the little shops. A starbucks drink later, we headed to where Matt and Angel were playing and then walked on the beach. Now we know this sounds kind of lame because we didn't just play volleyball with everyone else. BUT these were not average joes just hitting the ball back and forth, most of the people playing were professional volleyball players, and those that weren't seemed like they could be if they wanted to. Even this little 10 year old boy who was playing could have signed up for the pros.
After a bit, the four of us headed back to Matt's to take showers and get ready to go out. With 4 people needing showers and 3 of the 4 being girls who then need to get all dressed up--this took much longer than anticipated and it was about 10:30pm by the time we left. We were all starving and we ended up at this little diner which was still surprisingly crowded (mainly because it was one of the few places still serving food). Angel then had to go pick up a friend at the airport so Matt, Jen, and I went to a couple bars before catching a cab and calling it a night.

Optimism Column:
-Seriously, what would you do with a picture of every star on Hollywood Blvd???? Come on people it is just unnecessary
-all the clothes that we brought which we called our L.A. clothes...would have needed to be a couple more inches shorter and tighter in order to truly fit in
-apparently everyone who lives in Hermosa beach plays volleyball 

Day 10- Santa Monica and Beverly Hills

We forgot to mention yesterday that Matt invited us to a pool party in Beveryly Hills. We of course said sure but than instant anxiety set in as he further explained the party, saying that it's some rich guy who has these big parties and has all these photographers taking pictures of these models and that the guy likes to have the professional volleyball team there to make the place look good. He also mentioned that his house looks the playboy mansion. HOLY CRAP what did we get ourselves into. We asked him if we would stand out because of our fair skin buut he assured us that the models are sleezy and not high class ones and that we would be absolutely fine (right like we believed that).
Anyway we woke up this morning with some butterflies in our belly wishing that the rest of CA hadn't been so cold so we could have worked on being less pale. We headed to our continental breakfast and breaking news: this place has bananas!! So instead of the usual- we had toasted bagels with peanut butter and banana on them. We then started getting ready and in a bit headed to Trader Joe's where we got lunch- loaf of bread, havarti cheese, and turkey. YUM! Of course we doddled around for way to long and at 12pm, Matt texted and asked us to meet him at 12:30. CRAP. We rushed around lathering on sunscreen, deciding what to wear, and doing makeup. We ended up being 20 minutes late which turned out not to be a problem since we had just gone to Matt's friends' house and waited for about 20 more minutes until all their friends were there for us to leave.
We headed to the mansion which was about 15 minutes away and drove through all the swanky, rich neighborhoods. Matt pointed out how closed off everything is and it was true-it was not a neighborhood where they would be holding a block party. Every house had big iron gates and bushes all around them. We then got to the big security gate into the neighborhood where our host (Michael Scott--not from The Office) lived. Soon we arrived and were walking through the big gardens around to the back of the house where the party was.
WOW. This place was incredible! Matt gave us a tour of the tennis courts, swimming pool, volleyball court, the grotto (little cave with a hot tub and sofas and such), aviary with tons of birds, trampoline, bowling alley/workout room, and pool house (where the makeup was being done on the models). Did we mention-WOW!! Of course I was enamored with this adorable little white dog named Icy, but just casually in the backyard was a couple dogs, big parrot, big cockateal looking bird, little birds..oh and this one model brought her very fluffy little poodle..which was dyed pink!
We spent the afternoon sitting by the pool, talking to some of the other non-model girls there (2 of them went to University of Delaware- small world!), drinking, and eating the huge spread of food- not finger foods as we were expecting but a big meal with meat and string beans, potatoes, casseroles, salads, cakes, and lots more. Matt and his friends played volleyball for a lot of the party so we didn't see him too much. Oh and the models?? Not exactly high fashion runway ready but most were gorgeous and it was quite entertaining to watch them all over the property getting pictures taken. Our only problem through the day?? We missed the memo about wearing the highest heels possible. Every girl at the party had on at least 3 inch heels while Jen and I were in our flip flops--damn!! Even still, we had a great time!
Left the party, drove back to our place to get a change of clothes, and then headed to Matt's place. We met his cute dog Hammer and then went to get Subway for dinner. Finally we got our Subway! After eating, exhaustion set in and rather then going out again (Matt was headed to a local bar) we decided we better head back and get some sleep.

Finally we have found the sunshine and warmth! Pack away those jeans and get out the tank tops!

Optimism Column:
-It figures we bought and brought our tall LA heals aaaaand then didn't have them when we needed them- I don't know that we could have stood in them all day anyway.
-Who knew one would get so excited seeing bananas added to the breakfast choices?
-It is never ok to dye a dog pink

Bowling lane is tough to see in this picture but it's along the left wall

the grotto

backyard

Icy :)

Owner of the house is in the man in the plaid trunks

When the owner began to play volleyball, his personal butler or something stood by the side and would always have a clean ball to throw to him when one went out of bounds

Matt's dog Hammer

Hammer doing a funny face

Day 9- Santa Barbara and Santa Monica

We woke up today very groggy and wanting to sleep in but of course we headed to our continental breakfast. This one shook it up a bit by adding cheese and ham..we aren't exactly sure what they were supposed to go on buut we added a slice of cheese to our bagels. We then got ready to go but couldn't find anywhere in the room where it told us the check out time. We didn't rush but didn't doddle and finally at 10:50 Jen decided to call and make sure check out was at 12pm. Nope. It was in 10 minutes. We scrambled around and finished packing up and made it out just in time.
We walked around Santa Barbara some more and window shopped. Then in searching for a Subway for lunch (our GPS said it was close but we walked quite a ways before giving up) we found this cute little beachy restaurant which was delish!!
We then headed to Santa Monica, during which I tried my absolute hardest but failed to keep my eyes open the entire time we were driving. Luckily Jen did not have the same problem and though there was traffic, we made it in a little over an hour and a half. We were very leery about our hotel because it is (drum roll please) another Travelodge. We pulled up and were greeted by very friendly and cheerful receptionists. We parked in this teeny tiny lot and headed to our room and were very surprised to find our room is pretty nice. It has a separate little kitchenette area which is cute and the room appears to be much cleaner. My only complaint being that the door to the room is very light and seems kind of flimsy to me.
We researched the area a bit and got ready before heading to downtown Santa Monica. The drive there was extremely stressful and we didn't know where to park but it all worked out (besides having to pay $8 for parking and then seeing a place for $5 parking) and we started our walk to the 3rd Street Promenade. It was so much fun!! The street is blocked off to cars and there are street preformers filling the middle area. There are tons of shops and restaurants and everyone seems to have cute little dogs with them. We stopped to watch this one street performer who was really funny (we couldn't see tooo much because we were behind some people) but he danced and was just a funny personality. We then walked all the way down the street to an outdoor mall. It was awesome! We went to the food court area and had sushi!! YUM! It was quick service and pretty cheap; plus we got to sit at the little bar and watch him make it which was fun.
We then walked to the pier which was just like Ocean City's boardwalk. It was packed!! We seemed to be there at the turnover time when evening people are leaving and night time people are coming. We walked to the end and back and then headed back to our hotel.
This is the part where Travelodge lives up to its reputation from before. I forgot to mention earlier but when we left the teeny tiny parking lot, Jen had to do literally about a 15 point turn while I guided her from outside of the car. If this didn't feel embarrassing enough, of course we had an audience- 3 people standing outside there rooms smoking or something and laughing..I'm going to say they were laughing WITH us but it was most likely laughing AT us. Anyway when we returned to our hotel, we were not about to park in the same spot so we tried to make it into the little end spot where we'd be able to just back out but when the spot is labeled "compact car only" it really means you better have one of those little smart cars because that's the only thing that would have fit. I went to the front desk and asked where else we could park and after looping to there other lots (all filled) we ended up in the Trader Joe's parking lot a little down the street where the front desk guy gave us a pass too. We were NOT happy about this and grudgingly left our little Spidey; bitching the entire way back to our room. OH and did I mention our SAME audience from earlier was there to watch this all happening? Yea we basically wanted to say "I dare you to say something?"

Optimism Column:
-We just filled out the review from our Santa Barbara hotel and gave them a complaint about us not knowing when checkout is
-apparently the Travelodge thinks everyone drives a smart car or motorcycle
-some street performers aere very talented..others not so much (yea we mean the little dude kicking bowls)
-we saw a girl with dreads to her KNEES. How many years has she not been washing or combing her hair?? YIKES.
-some people give their dogs the most ridiculous haircuts
-Oceana Santa Barbara view: the Pacific Ocean.    Travelodge view: someone's trashy backyard
-as I type, an ant is crawling up Jen's leg while she sits on the bed
-if our car gets towed from Trader Joe's Travelodge will be paying for it.
-they were not kidding about L.A. traffic
-people in L.A. like to use their horns
-apparently belly shirts are back in style..huh.
-even though the Travelodge boasts the size of their large tvs, apparently guests would rather stand on the balcony and watch people park their cars
-How much you wanna bet they have those slimy hardboiled eggs at breakfast tomorrow morning??

PS. Can you tell we are writing the optimism column when Jen is tired and has been stressed with driving and parking this evening??

This picture is for the optimism column. Why can I never learn that I need to zoom out before trying to take a picture of both of us together???? I think this is the 500th picture of Jen's zoomed in face and mine cut off.

Gross traffic!

Our little kitchen! :)

SUSHI!

A gigantic Smirf and Joanna.

Ok I truely wasn't trying to take a picture of this dogs butt..I just wanted to show how absurd some of the dogs hair was cut..I believe this is supposed to be a Pomeranian.

Day 8- Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara

This morning went pretty smoothly. I surprised Jen by going to breakfast and bringing it back to the room before she woke up. We got ready and headed to downtown Pismo beach where there is a pier and lots of little shops. We walked around a bit and then got hot dogs for lunch from a cute little stand.
We then headed to Santa Barbara which was only about an hour away from Pismo. It was an uneventful ride until Jen got stung or bit by some little bug and we spent the next 5 miles looking for it and hoping it wouldn't sting her again..we never did find it BUT she also didn't get hurt again.
We arrived in Santa Barbara and headed to our hotel, we were a little early and the room wasn't ready for us yet so we walked to the boardwalk. It is much warmer here which is a welcome change but it is still quite windy. We walked around for awhile in search of something to eat and ended up at a pizza place.

Random Story:
We walked back to our hotel with our little pizza and since our room still wasn't quite ready, we started eating on the bench out front. We had only been sitting there for a minute when this man and his wife walked by and the man said "Can I ask you girls a favor?" Of course we are immediately kind of on the defensive but said "yes?" and he said "Would you mind giving my wife a piece of your pizza? We are really struggling and I hate not being able to provide for my princess but we don't get paid again until next week." We were, of course happy to help and they said a billion thank yous and were on their way. A second later a bell boy came out to see if we were ok and profusely appologize for the couple coming up to us. We did not see what the big deal was and were happy we were able to help. Pay it forward, right??

We headed to our room and without an elevator, lugged our bags to the second floor..it seems odd for any hotel not to have an elevator now a days but this was our second encounter with having to heave-ho our suitcases up or down a flight of steps.
The room is adorable! It's pretty colored and has cute designs on the walls. Only problem is, there are 3 large windows that basically take up all the walls. Plus-the lighting is not good! In one corner (of course where Jen's suitcase is) it's practically in the dark making locating any clothes difficult. To be able to find anything, she opened the curtains a bit to let some light in, of course the next second people were walking by and she spent the next 5 minutes in the closet since she was half dressed and the people had decided to admire the view from the balcony out over the beach. (NOTE: this is one of those typical situations where I must say- this would only happen to Jen).

We walked to State Street to find somewhere to eat for dinner. While looking for somewhere to eat this sketchy looking guy approached us and was like "girls I lived a charmed life; I thought those cops were gonna pull me over because they saw me smoking my blunt here (which he proceeded to show us) but really they were pulling that car over. I almost through it away!!" He then scooted by and just kept walking. Well that had us laughing for the next block! We ended up at this little restaurant where we aren't sure what the motif was because it was beachy but the waitresses were in cowgirl outfits and there were tonss of tvs all over the walls. It was festive though and this guy who worked there had a happy hour thing but none of his friends could come til later so he gave us a wrist band that got 2 for 1 drinks- we are always happy for a bargain.

Optimism Column:
-this hotel needs to buy some lamps
-the designs on the wall, though cute, are not quite symmetrical which has bothered us
-what's with the hardboiled eggs at continental breakfasts?? All the shells are taken off and they sit (very unappetizingly) in this warmer.  Every continental breakfast we have been to has them and it is odd
-speaking of continental breakfasts, they could really switch up the food offered now and then

He reminded us of Brodie!! We miss our babies!!