Three days into our California adventure, we’ve had a great time already.
We flew out Friday on an uneventful flight; our checked bags even arrived with is in LA! We took a cab from LAX to Tom’s place in Santa Monica which Sarita noted could spell Sarita Monica-her and her sister’s name-with a slight modification to the N. The cab was $30 just as Tom predicted, though the driver did not like my suggestion of taking Lincoln instead of the freeway which Tom also suggested to save time and money. We walked around Santa Monica for a few hours putting some blisters on our feet but enjoying the sites and stopping for a Mohito and a Pineapple Breeze to cool is down. The ocean air was so nice especially since it was already heating up in Cincinnati when we left that morning.
Tom to us to a restaurant in Venice called Chaya where we had some excellent sushi (Tom and me) and rissoto (Sarita). We met his friend Tyler after dinner at a pub near his house where we also got to sample some Ukranian vodka from a vendor trying to launch his new brand. Tom and Tyler ended up heading out after the pin but Sarita and I were tired already so we went home to bed.
The next day we went to Manhattan Beach to chill (I ended up with a gnarly sunburn on my back and left side) and see Tom in a flip-cup tournament with a bunch of the USC Business School kids. Sharkey’s, the bar hosting the tourney, was thoroughly unprepared for the size of the crowd though so Sarita and I ended up spending most of the time walking around on the beach. Eventually we have up on the tourney and left Tom to fend for himself. Searching for food that night we happened upon a police barricade with a whole bunch of police cars and a helicopter searching for someone or something. We ended up at a tasty Indian restaurant not too far from his house.
Today we went with Tom to the airport, he was on his way to Portland, ME, to pick up our rental car: a silver PT Cruiser convertible. We drove top-down to the Cheshire Cat, our B&B for tonight, in Santa Barbara. We’ve walked around downtown which has lots of boutique shops mixed in with the mainstream chains you could find in any mall. The chains blend in well though so it’s not too obnoxious. We just had a glass of wine and are relaxing before dinner.<\p>
There is so much to see along the PCH that we should have many more interesting posts to come this week. Stay tuned.
