Trip Report: From the Mitten to the Golden Coast-Part 3

Saturday, August 28th, 2010.

On Saturday morning I arose at the normally shocking hour of 5am PST. However, I had been sleeping since 8pm the night before, and seeing as I had gotten up at 2am the day before, 5am was sort of sleeping in! As I woke, I looked out my window for a while at the still dark skies, with a somewhat quiet LAX beneath me. A few cargo movements, but nothing much to note at that hour. After a shower I headed downstairs to the Palmira Restaurant in the Radisson for breakfast. I loaded up on a great Belgian waffle and assorted pastries. They serve some very good coffee there I might add. Around 6:30 I wandered back up to my room, and grabbed my camera for a little stroll through the terminal complex drive (World Way). The grey skies and cool air didn't make for the best pictures, but I got a couple decent shots.



It was however after snapping this third picture of the control tower that out of the corner of my eye I noticed an LAPD motercycle flying towards me. The officer pulled right up in front of me and beckoned me over. Usually not a good sign of anything. "Whatcha doing??", asked the officer, sort of playfully. "Taking some pictures." How else was I supposed to respond?! He proceeded to question me for about 5-10 minutes, occassionally re-asking certain questions to check for story consistancy, looking at my ID and looking at the pictures on my camera. I was slightly worried he's delete everything I took from the past 24 hours! In the end, he obviously did not. He turned out to be a really cool guy, simply doing his job at a major international gateway. In this day in age, it is understandable (so long as you don't make tourists feel like criminals). We BS'd for a bit on everything from sports, to the economy before we went our separate ways. Looking back, I'm kicking myself for not getting a photo-op with him, as he bore a striking resemblance to one Erik Estrada (Ponch) from the classic show CHiPs.

I continued my wandering, and soon enough it was time to meet the folks I knew coming into town that morning at arrivals. After our hello's and some talking,they grabbed a rental car shuttle to get their vehicle (as they would be staying a whole week in Manhattan Beach). I wandered back to my room, packed my stuff and grabbed another Ocean Express ticket. The house they were renting was a mere half-block away from a stop along the route, so why not?

A half hour later, I met them at the house. By now to my great appreciation, the clouds were burning off and the sun was shining!

By now it was nearing 11am, and the day at the beach spread out before me! I threw my stuff inside the house, and with a few others, grabbed my camera again and headed back out to wander up and down "The Strand" as it is called, wander the shopping and commercial districts, eat and jump in what was a rather chilly Pacific Ocean.








We had a great dinner on the deck, grilled out of course. A few beers went with to wash down the amazing food in a beautiful place. Long periods of chatting, laughing and catching up were had. We headed back down to the beach to watch the sunset on what was an astounding day that went by far, far too quickly.

Sunday would be my departure day, and my trip back to reality. I really need to schedule these trips longer in the future. Perhaps though a longer trip would make it harder to go home? Either way, I plan to return next year. I will leave you with a poiniant parting shot from Saturday night, and pick up Sunday as part four of this report.

Trip Report: From the Mitten to the Golden Coast-Part 2

I will pick up where I left off from part one.
Friday, August 27, 2010

After cleaning up my act from a morning (plus) of travelling at my hotel, I put on some sandals and a t-shirt and headed outside.

View from my room, loved it.

Standing above Sepulveda Blvd., this is one busy road!
Sunny skies greeted me, although it was rather cool and dry (low 70's, mid 60's) compared to home, and the other times I had been out to LA).
My first stop was imperative, I hadn't had a real meal since 4am EST and it was now 2:30pm PST! Where else but the In-N-Out Burger on Sepulveda!!


If you haven't had the pleasure of experiencing In-N-Out, get out to the West coast, you're missing out. It's amazing, and the most expensive thing on the normal menu is $3.05 (the double-double I always order!!). The fries are LITERALLY made fresh from potatoes in front of you. It takes a while to get your food, but it's worth every moment. You'll understand why the line is always so long.
What to do? Well get your food and eat outside of course as you watch planes soar in to land on runway 24R a mere 200 feet over your head. It's an amazingly unique environment and experience.

As you can see from my photo, it was starting to cloud over at this point. With the encroaching marine layer, temps started dropping. By 4pm we were at 63 degrees F. Despite the cool temperatures, I needed some salt-water in my veins. I could smell it from the airport (a mere mile from the ocean) and it was too tempting. I grabbed an OceanExpress shuttle ticket from the concierge desk back at the Radisson and a schedule and hopped on the 4:30 out to Manhatten Beach.
*Side Note* Ocean Express Trolley System is a system that connects all the LAX airport hotels with beach-front communities. It's a wonderful service and allows one to get away from their hotel without the expense of a taxi, or walking the distance to the LA rail station.
I would be out in Manhatten Beach anyway Saturday, so I decided to get a jump on the scene, despite the clouds.




I walked around for a couple hours and soon with only a t-shirt, shorts and sandals, became a little chilled (despite being a tough Michigander). I decided it was best to head back to the hotel, throw on some jeans and tennis shoes and watch planes as night fell.



By 8pm PST I was simply exhausted. It was 11pm back home, and I had been up and travelling, walking and exploring since 2am. It had been a 21-hour day, and I fell into my heavenly SleepNumber bed and was out like a light. With the lights and action of the world's fifth busiest airport still buzzing below out my window, I drifted off. It hadn't seemed like a 21-hour day, but it had been.

I was hoping for far better weather for Saturday and my wish would be granted.
Saturday's activities from top-to-bottom will be posted next in part three! Heads up, this will be a long and photo-rich post.

Until then,
Peace.

Trip Report: From the Mitten to the Golden Coast-Part 1

So earlier this spring I got word that people I know would be out in Southern California for a few days at the end of August. I hadn't been since last September, and always will find any excuse to get out to the West Coast. I started searching fares on multiple airlines. Once again, Delta not only won on price, but they had the schedule and convenience I wanted/needed as well. So my ticket was booked on Delta a few months out, and the dates were set: Friday, Aug. 27-Sunday, Aug. 29.

Hotel reservations would have to be made as well. I settled on what I knew was a reliable place for the money, the Radisson LAX. I noticed an online room sale, and booked for nearly 40% off the normal rate. Quite pleased with the developments all I had to do was wait for the day to come.

Friday, August 27, 2010.
Delta 2479 - Grand Rapids, MI (GRR) to Atlanta Hartsfield, GA (ATL)
Depart 6:40am
Arrive 8:30am
Equipment: DC-9-50
Seat 10A - Window

I awoke quite early for this departure, 2:00am EST specifically. I showered and made sure I had a large breakfast/meal before hand and that I wasn't leaving anything behind. I left the house about 4am and was curbside at Gerald R. Ford Intl. Airport by 4:30am. The check-in halls were rather empty still, with a few people checking in for United and AirTran flights. I used the Delta self-check-in kiosk and had my boarding passes through to LAX in two minutes as I was not checking any luggage. To me checking luggage is a waste of time and money.




Empty GRR Check-in area at 5am.

Finally boarding was called 30 minutes prior to departure. I took my window seat on the left side of the aircraft and settled in for our almost two hour trip down.





A smooth flight passed my quickly as the sun rose outside my window. Before we knew it we were on final approach into the already warm and hazy Atlanta. I had a two and a half hour connection layover, which is plenty of time to get some coffee and walk around Hartsfield, ride the train and explore the terminals for a while. Sure enough boarding time grew near, so I wandered to the gate to get set. It was packed as expected, we were going out 100% full today.

Friday, August 27, 2010.
Delta 1755- Atlanta Hartsfield, GA (ATL) - Los Angeles International Airport, CA (LAX)
Depart 11;20am EST
Arrive: 12:55pm PST
Equipment: Boeing 757-200
Seat 35F - Window



My seatmate was a talkative chap from Dothan, Alabama, and he apparently fancied gin and tonics, as he orded four of them throughout the flight. I'm used to coming in over the Colorado Rockies and Utah, however our flight path would be greatly South of that, skimming Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle, New Mexico and Northern Arizona. I did however manage to get some great in-flight shots, here are a few:







Sometimes all you need is some great views out the window to really appreciate what flying is again and still marvel at just what it is you're doing.
Approach into the LA metro was quick and smooth, coming in over the San Gabriel Mountains and down through the valley, downtown LA was cloaked by the usual summer smog. At 12:45pm PST we smacked the runway and proceeded to terminal five.


You can see my hotel from the plane upon landing. (above)

I proceeded right to the lower-roadway shuttle pick-up area. If you've never flown into LAX, hailing a shuttle in the crazy, clogged mess that is the arrivals roadway is an experience in itself. I hopped on my hotel shuttle and proceeded to check in at the Radisson (No interior hotel photos unfortunatly). I made my way up to my 11th foor room which had a great view of the whole Southern runway complex and terminals 8,7 and 6 at LAX. From here I changed, and prepped for the rest of my Friday.

Another great Delta experience. Two smooth and on-time flights. For what I paid I was satisfied with my out-bound trip to Los Angeles.

I will post more on my brief stay, as well as the home-bound leg later. Enjoy for now!

Announcement!!!

Good Afternoon Friends!

Today marks a major shifting point in this blog. I told you changes were in store, and they have arrived. I now have a digital camera again, so I will be able to add pictures to the site of my own creation. I'm severely excited about this development!

I will also be posting my first ever flight trip report shortly! Having brought my camera and gotten plenty of pictures, I'm quite excited for the results of this trip report.

Stay tuned!

The Rob Bliss Water Slide

So this weekend urban events coordinator extraorindaire Rob Bliss unvieled his 500 foot water slide on the Lyon St. hill in Grand Rapids, MI. Billed as the longest inflatable water slide on record, and weighing in at 1.5 football fields long, it has ceated quite a stir. Despite a slight opening delay yesterday due to rain, tens of thousands are expected downtown to take part in the watery action. Great care was taken by the city and it's emergency crews, Bliss's event staff, the slide manufacturers and sponsors to make sure the slide was constructed as user-safe as possible.

However early public sentiment on the slide is mixed. I have yet to get downtown to see the slide, but early accounts have line-wait-time estimates of 3-5 hours. This despite two lanes to slide, and two lines on either side. Other early returns have it billed as "glitchy". People have been reported to just be stopped early going down the slide due to too much friction, and subsequently have been forced to exit the slide right where they stop. Other accounts tell that the slide does not let you get up any decent amount of exciting speed, certainly nothing worth a 3-5 hour wait. I refuse to wait in line 3-5 hours at cedar point, let alone this.



As the POV (point of view) video shows, the user does not gain a lot of speed at all, it's more like a slow, lazy slide. Yes they want safety, but a water slide is supposed to be exciting.

Next year Bliss is planning a 1000 foot water slide on the same hill. My suggestions for the crew would be to find a way to increase rider capacity, reduce wait times, and for goodness sake make it exciting.

Favre Watch 2010: #4 Flying to Minn...

Did I just hear the whole NFC North collectively say "Uh Oh!!"?? I've got the link below, and he could be going for any number of reasons. However, something tells me the old gun-slinger in coming back.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp10/news/story?id=5470904

Football and faith: Another look

So last week I posted an article about how the Islamic faith impacts players during football season.

Well here's another very interesting article from right here in Michigan. This one involves the Dearborn Fordson high school football program, and how it deals with it's Muslim majority in respect to religion. I really wish MLive had a way for me to share and imbed this story on Blogger for you, but they don't. Here is the link:

http://www.mlive.com/sports/detroit/index.ssf/2010/08/football_and_faith_dearborn_hi.html

As a small opinion piece, some of the comments at the bottom of the article are really disturbing to me. The amount of growing xenophobia and religious-racism and hatred in this country is frightening. Certain political figure's followings in 2008 displayed some very open racist and xenophobic foundations. We're at the interim point with the 2012 election year staring us in the face. I urge voters to be wary of candidates from any party who have xenophobic and racist organizations in their following.