Our Trip

Last week, Brent, Melissa, and I went to California. We had a stupendous time. Please allow me to share the following highlights.

We arrived late Friday night. We stayed with one of Melissa's friends from the place she worked when they lived there. Her name is Sarah, she lives in Playa Del Rey and she was a great host. Saturday we went to a work party for Melissa's old job and then we went shopping.

Highlight 1: How I became a criminal mastermind: We were at Century City which is an outdoor mall with a good mix of affordable and luxury stores. I went into a store that nobody else was interested in (Zara) and immediately found a really cute shirt. When I noticed that everyone else was just waiting for me outside the door, I went to the door to tell them that they could go on and I'd meet them later. I tried to be careful to not get too close to the door, but I managed to set off the alarm anyway. It went off for awhile, as if the store employees had no idea how to handle the situation. I just ignored it and picked up a few other items to take with me to the dressing room. There wasn't a bench or anything in the dressing room, so when I tried on a sweater that I didn't like, I balanced it on the top of a shopping bag I had from a previous store. I didn't end up really liking any of the clothes I tried on so I left the store. Days later I found the sweater in with my other purchases. It had fallen into the bag I sat it on. Apparently they had turned off the alarm system after I set it off earlier, so I was able to walk out of the store with no problems, just ten minutes later. I out smarted the system! Unfortunately, though I have no interest in wearing the item I stole, I also have no way of returning it. If anyone is going to LA soon and would like to return my stolen merchandise, please let me know.

That night we went to a really good restaurant called Whaler or Whalers. I had a seafood combo plate because I wanted to try swordfish, but not commit to it. Swordfish is not as good as other fish. It was a little tough. I also had whole little octopus for the first time. They were fine, but actually prefer the calamari at Mimi's (which I recommend). I say the restaurant was really good because I liked the atmosphere, and the salmon in my combo was maybe the best I've ever had.

The next day we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific which was pretty cool. I'd never been to a real aquarium (the one in Salt Lake is a make-believe aquarium), so it was an interesting experience. The ocean is full of freaky things. They had sea-lions and seals, and sea-otters which were all kind of cool. There were also some smallish sharks and a presentation about how you don't need to be afraid of sharks, they don't like to eat people (lies, I tell you). The best part was a display of Lorikeets which are a type of parrot that for some reason have no fear of people. They'd land on your head or outstretched arm. I'll put in a picture of them soon. There were also some cool diving birds that I took some video of. Hopefully I'll be able to post it too. Overall, the aquarium was not as impressive as some I've seen in movies.

On Monday we drove up north of Santa Barbara and went wine tasting. I wasn't feeling well, so I didn't actually have much wine, but the vineyards were beautiful. We had dinner in Santa Barbara and went to the Bourne Ultimatum. I'm not a fan of the Bourne movies, but the theater was cool. It only had one screen, but it was like 4 times the size of a regular theater. Santa Barbara seems like a great place to live. It wasn't too hot, or too crowded, plus it had a cool mall, some good restaurants and a generally cool feel.

On Tuesday we went to the Dockweiler State Beach. I hadn't been there before because it seemed to have a reputation as a ghetto beach (it's right under LAX so you hear the planes), but it turned out to be my best day at the beach ever.

Highlight 2: How I was almost killed by a shark: When we first got there I got in the water and jumped waves for a little while, but then I decided to try swimming out a little farther to see how much less wavy it got when it got deeper. Brent came with me somewhat hesitantly, but we were having a good time and had swam out far enough that the life guard had started watching us vigilantly. The waves do indeed seem a little smaller where it's deeper, but not significantly so. So we're just swimming along about 500 yards from the beach (I made this calculation based on satellite photos) when I see a large dark dorsal fin very close to us. It was between 10 and 20 yards away. I'm a naturally skeptical person, so I tried to think of some explanation other than that I was about to be eaten by a shark. I thought maybe it was fake, or maybe it was a dolphin, but judging from the size, shape, and color, it definitely looked like a shark. After pointing it out to Brent, we immediately turned around and swam our very fastest back to shore. We didn't look back. When we got to the beach the life guard told us not to go out that far, but he hadn't seen the fin. Not wanting to look like a crazy person, I didn't say anything to him about it, and just assumed that even though it looked like a shark, it probably wasn't.

It took a little while to catch my breath and calm down, but I was in the water again soon. Brent was still sort of scared to death for awhile, but he eventually recovered too. We played around in the surf for awhile and then we went for a walk to some rocks that form like a natural (maybe) little pier. On the other side of the rocks there was a pod of dolphins! Some were very close to the shore (within 10 yards). There were at least five, maybe 10 of them. Mostly you could just see there for a second as the dove along, but every now and then one would jump farther out of the water. It was really cool. It was also somewhat of a relief that what we had been so close to earlier, was almost definitely one of the dolphins. But here are the reasons I still doubt:
1. The back of the animal seemed flat, not curved like the dolphins
2. It was huge! I'm sure they seem bigger up close like that, but seriously if it was a dolphin, it was like world's biggest
3. The dolphin fins never stayed above water for more than just a moment. What we saw was sitting still on the surface for at least long enough for me to point it out to Brent. It's easy to recognize the diving of dolphins, this thing wasn't diving.
4. It was alone, or at least we only saw one of them. The dolphins we saw were always swimming in tandem - you'd see one fin, and then another right behind it.

I looked up information about sharks in the area later in the day, and could find no reports of shark sightings or dolphin sightings at Dockweiler, although there are reports of dolphins at Manhattan Beach which is very close. There have been sharks seen at beaches at Malibu and Will Rogers (about 5 miles north). So its possible right?

Anyway, the other fun thing was that around the rocks there were tidal pools with sea creatures. Brent caught a hermit crab which we then released only to have it eaten moments later by a seagull. It put up a good fight, but was no match in the end. The seagull ate it whole, shell and all.

So it was a great day, and a great end to our trip. We drove back yesterday and got home late last night. We stopped in Vegas which I was even less impressed with than ever. Why do people go there? I got really sick Tuesday night and still feel awful. It's just a cold but I've never felt more disabled by a sore throat and stuffed nose. Hopefully no one else gets it. I have to work at Mimi's tonight though, so I could potentially spread it to all sorts of people!