It never rains in Calafornia

---

We set off on the 6am Virgin flight from Melbourne via Brisbane to LA flying Virgin comfortably, with Virgin Pyjamas, champagne and tasty food. Highlight was four hostesses singing Happy Birthday to Greg and presenting him with a bottle of champagne (win for me, eh girls). arrived in LA at 7am the same day we had left, giving Greg a 37 hour birthday.



With bad things happening in threes we thought we were safe with 1. me nearly leaving my handbag on a train, then 2. Greg leaving the bag with the tickets, passports etc at the Arbory, the bar along the Yarra where Owen works (luckily some nice person handed it in and we were able to retrieve it), and 3. my glasses breaking in half on the flight over.. so imagine...I'm on holiday, and I cannot see anything in focus over 10 feet away..sigh. But wait there's more, my head was itchy before we left and my shingles bumps were out, so I thought...yay the shingles are coming back, but oddly there were no headaches to go with it...but there were little crawly bites things..called NITS...yep 59 years old and my first case of nits...so solution, combing, solution, combing etc etc...and i appear to be Nit free, I am going to continue the regime for another week. But I have the cleanest hair in LA. The bank has stopped our credit cards twice, once because they do not allow ANY transactions in Target America. (Nice if they told you).



but seriously, after receiving new from a close friend and some more from family this last couple of days, except for making a good story and something to remember these are just little nothing's in the big scheme of things, when others are struggling though life changing events. So on we travel.



ANAHEIM



So what do you do in Anahiem when you are not at a convention or at Disneyland, you go to the baseball....LA Angels vs Kansas City Royals..good ground, sad game when the home team is losing...but I got to watch the brat Albert Pujoles ( yes Australians... The j is pronounced as an h..so that is pooholes to us). Hot dog score 7, crackerjack score 9. (Crackerjacks are the. American version of lolly Gobble Blisss Bombs... or toffee pop corn and an integral part of going to the baseball).



SAN DIEGO

Gotta love a town that has a beach for dogs...appropriately cLled Dodd Beach, where puppies and their humans, can frolic in the surf and on the sand. Dog Beach is next to Ocean Beach which is back in the 60's/70's and has a very cool laid back vibe with restaurants; hippie shops, antique stores and tatoo parlours. Had a great pizza slice...and managed to have a Pepperoni slice with shaker Parmesan on it (as they used to have in the Roseanne sitcom. Very Tasty. Greg had a "hulk" with pesto and artichokes, and a "Donald Trump" one with the lot.

San Diego is a great place to visit and we went on their hop on hop off bus tour, ending up at Old Town San Diego, where. California and the first mission started. We then took their lite rail into town ($6.00) return to see the Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks. Hot dog score 7, Crackerjack score 9.



Next day out to Coronado Island to see Del Coronado Hotel (think Top Gun)... Which I would like desperately to come back and stay at.. (Sorry Langham). then back into town for Greg to do a tour of the retired Aircradt Carrier USS Midway. He was pleased to get a service discount for being retired Australian Navy.



Another reason to go to San Diagonisnis is where Top Gun was filmed, you can drink at the Br where they broke out in song etc.



LOS ANGELES

This is not a pretty city (although it has some nice bits) and it is so grubby eg dirty streets etc, compared to Anahiem and Sandiego. We went to Hooters for a drink (I needed a toilet) and it was grubby, the menses were dirty and sticky, and the toilet sinks perhaps had not been cleaned in a year. URK



Dodgers Stadium is magnificent, and we had good seats, except for the 7ft tall guy sitting in front of Greg (1st word problems). It was a great game with the Dogers winning, the roar off the crowd was deafening and we all sang like lunatics. J K Simmons (the psychologist from Law and Order and Special Victims unit) threw the first ball. Hot dog score 9 (great hot dog..smokey flavour), Crackerjack score 0... Seriously, they did not sell Crackerjacks....how can they sing take me out to the ball game..."Buy me some peanuts an dCracker Jacks"... If they don't sell them..rant over.



We also went to Venice beach...sad and rather two dollar shop like, and Santa Monica Beach, stunningly beautiful and a lot of fun.



Tomorrow we go to Phoenix.

---