Vacation!
So I never got around to posting about my vacation from last month. At the beginning of August, Gloss and I took a road trip to LA. The trip was a load of fun, and miraculously enough we were able to put up with each other for over 4 days straight. I, being the more high-strung and likely to stress out of the two, am particularly amazed that I wasn't ready to take off heads. I think Gloss was trying extra hard to make sure I didn't stress out and turn into some Mega-Bitch. Thinking back, I almost feel bad for making her go on that trip with me.
Day 1 - Sunday, August 1st:
We leave for LA. Gloss stayed over the night before, so we wouldn't have to make the trip to SF and back for her. After getting some goodies from Trader Joe's and going back to my house for a forgotten thermos, we finally left for LA. The trip was surprisingly fast and traffic free! We made it in about five and a half or six hours, including two pit stops! Taking I-5 (I think that's the freeway we took) was a much better idea than taking 101.
So we get to the Miyako hotel in Little Tokyo and Holy-Moly! They have all of six parking spaces underneath the hotel! It's not so bad though, since the hotel will validate parking for the garage right next door to it. We're pretty much beat from the car ride. Although the ac was on, it was still a million degrees outside, making the drive a warm one. After rehydrating ourselves and passing out in our hotel room, we finally ventured out, at about 11 o' clock and figured out everything was closed. Which was okay, we walked around, got some fresh air, and pigged out until we were sick on shrimp chips and chicken salad. Funny about those shrimp chips ... for the entire trip I was crapping out olive green turd that had the consistency of clay. It was not a good thing.
Day 2 - Monday, August 2nd:
First stop! Little Tokyo! La's Little Tokyo is pretty cool. Being from the San Francisco Bay Area, I thought it had a lot more charm than our own Japan Town. The buildings all looked antique, and it reminded me a bit of China Town done Japanese Style. It had store after store selling really cheap, hokey, Japanese crap that you expect tourists to buy when they thing they are purchasing a piece of culture. After crawling around all afternoon we decided to break for lunch. Gloss got a sandwich from Quiznos, but I decided to get some ramen.
We stopped by for a togo order at a restaurant across from the hotel called Tsunami. Note to self: Read the menu more carefully when you order. When I made my order, I didn't realize that the items I was getting were entire meals. So instead of getting a dragon roll and spicy beef ramen, I got a dragon roll, spicy beef ramen, gyoza, california roll, salad, and tempura. Not that this is a bad thing, I just ended up with enough food for two.
The staff at the restaurant was very funny, but I doubt they realized that. First, the waitress took my order, only to go into the back of the restaurant, where I heard a lot of yelling. She reappeared behind the counter, followed by two sleepy looking cooks.
After studying my order like they were studying for the SAT's, they finally got around to cooking the ramen ... all three of them. One of the cooks kept pointing to the pot, while the other two yelled at him and pointed and stared at whatever went in the pot.
Once the ramen was on its way to get cooked up, the sushi chef broke away and began working on the other half of the meal. Minutes later, he puts down a plate a nicely arranged california rolls and yells out, "California Roll!" Both Gloss and I sort of stare at him, and the waitress suddenly jumps up and squawks "No! No! No! Togo!" followed with a lot of pointing at the order tag. Amongst all this, the chef cooking my ramen is yelling at the sushi chef, while the sushi chef yells back at him. If I didn't know any better, I would have guessed that the chef needed step by step directions to cook the meal.
Finally the entire meal was delivered -- in togo boxes. Watching them the entire time was so hilarious that I left then a $7 dollar tip even the the meal was only about $20 including the fresh fruit juices.
After lunch, Gloss and I went to China Town and visited my grandmother. I got a $65.00 parking ticket for parking in an area where it wasn't allowed from 3:00 - 6:00 >_
Day 1 - Sunday, August 1st:
We leave for LA. Gloss stayed over the night before, so we wouldn't have to make the trip to SF and back for her. After getting some goodies from Trader Joe's and going back to my house for a forgotten thermos, we finally left for LA. The trip was surprisingly fast and traffic free! We made it in about five and a half or six hours, including two pit stops! Taking I-5 (I think that's the freeway we took) was a much better idea than taking 101.
So we get to the Miyako hotel in Little Tokyo and Holy-Moly! They have all of six parking spaces underneath the hotel! It's not so bad though, since the hotel will validate parking for the garage right next door to it. We're pretty much beat from the car ride. Although the ac was on, it was still a million degrees outside, making the drive a warm one. After rehydrating ourselves and passing out in our hotel room, we finally ventured out, at about 11 o' clock and figured out everything was closed. Which was okay, we walked around, got some fresh air, and pigged out until we were sick on shrimp chips and chicken salad. Funny about those shrimp chips ... for the entire trip I was crapping out olive green turd that had the consistency of clay. It was not a good thing.
Day 2 - Monday, August 2nd:
First stop! Little Tokyo! La's Little Tokyo is pretty cool. Being from the San Francisco Bay Area, I thought it had a lot more charm than our own Japan Town. The buildings all looked antique, and it reminded me a bit of China Town done Japanese Style. It had store after store selling really cheap, hokey, Japanese crap that you expect tourists to buy when they thing they are purchasing a piece of culture. After crawling around all afternoon we decided to break for lunch. Gloss got a sandwich from Quiznos, but I decided to get some ramen.
We stopped by for a togo order at a restaurant across from the hotel called Tsunami. Note to self: Read the menu more carefully when you order. When I made my order, I didn't realize that the items I was getting were entire meals. So instead of getting a dragon roll and spicy beef ramen, I got a dragon roll, spicy beef ramen, gyoza, california roll, salad, and tempura. Not that this is a bad thing, I just ended up with enough food for two.
The staff at the restaurant was very funny, but I doubt they realized that. First, the waitress took my order, only to go into the back of the restaurant, where I heard a lot of yelling. She reappeared behind the counter, followed by two sleepy looking cooks.
After studying my order like they were studying for the SAT's, they finally got around to cooking the ramen ... all three of them. One of the cooks kept pointing to the pot, while the other two yelled at him and pointed and stared at whatever went in the pot.
Once the ramen was on its way to get cooked up, the sushi chef broke away and began working on the other half of the meal. Minutes later, he puts down a plate a nicely arranged california rolls and yells out, "California Roll!" Both Gloss and I sort of stare at him, and the waitress suddenly jumps up and squawks "No! No! No! Togo!" followed with a lot of pointing at the order tag. Amongst all this, the chef cooking my ramen is yelling at the sushi chef, while the sushi chef yells back at him. If I didn't know any better, I would have guessed that the chef needed step by step directions to cook the meal.
Finally the entire meal was delivered -- in togo boxes. Watching them the entire time was so hilarious that I left then a $7 dollar tip even the the meal was only about $20 including the fresh fruit juices.
After lunch, Gloss and I went to China Town and visited my grandmother. I got a $65.00 parking ticket for parking in an area where it wasn't allowed from 3:00 - 6:00 >_