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south california trip log
I wanted to post about our socal trip but I just can't think of that much to say. Basically, Chris and I went down to LA and SD for the long 4th of July weekend.
Friday we drove down. Traffic was actually not bad at all and we hit Malibu at about 4pm (but due to PCH traffic didn't make it to our hotel until like 5pm, seriously). Went to Ari and Thuy's pre-wedding picnic on the Malibu Bluffs... but we really didn't know anyone so mostly we walked around the park and talked to a few people and ate food and whatever. Afterwards we went back to our hotel and watched an episode of OITNB on Chris's iPad.
Saturday the weather was totally overcast, so Jenny joined us and we went to Santa Monica for the afternoon. We got brunch at Blue Daisy and walked around the pier and other things in the area and did a Pokemon raid with a bazillion people and such. Then we went to Jenny's airbnb to get ready for the wedding with her and some of her bridge friends.
The wedding was at Ari's parents' house and unlike our wedding, they got the Final Fantasy music right (Ari's brother plays the harp so he played it, and Ari's sister played the cello). They also did responsive vows like we did :) The people at the wedding were a combination of bridge friends and tech friends and stuff, and we were seated at the Facebook table (with Jenny and with Mike and Michelle and others I didn't know). Food was kinda wacky -- they had people serving ramen in cardboard containers and salad in heart-shaped bowls, but everything else was small foods passed around by people carrying trays (but that wasn't clear until we asked some of the staff).
Chris and I left around 10pm because we were driving to San Diego (which was a largely uneventful drive); we got in around 12:30am.
Sunday we went to the Padres-Dodgers game with my friend Dani (since I wouldn't see her in MA for the Japan-US college tournament, we both decided to skip it this year). Petco Park is huge and nice, but enough Dodgers fans drive down that you seriously can't tell who the home team is most of the time. Kenta Maeda was starting for the Dodgers too, which was kinda lucky, but he pitched poorly and got taken out in like 3 innings. After the game Chris and I went to a fancy restaurant he'd booked a reservation at, Juniper & Ivy, and they gave us seats at the chef's counter so we got to watch them preparing food, which is always fun.
Monday we went to the San Diego Zoo with Chris's dad, who drove down to see us. The zoo is huge and has lots of animals, but it was hot outside and I was really sluggish after a few hours of that. In the evening we got dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant called Bice.
Tuesday we came home, stopping off in LA to have lunch with Chris's grandparents on the way. Oddly, traffic wasn't so bad on our way home either, aside from one incident where a car was ON FIRE and blocking traffic just as we were getting on I-5 past the Grapevine.
Friday we drove down. Traffic was actually not bad at all and we hit Malibu at about 4pm (but due to PCH traffic didn't make it to our hotel until like 5pm, seriously). Went to Ari and Thuy's pre-wedding picnic on the Malibu Bluffs... but we really didn't know anyone so mostly we walked around the park and talked to a few people and ate food and whatever. Afterwards we went back to our hotel and watched an episode of OITNB on Chris's iPad.
Saturday the weather was totally overcast, so Jenny joined us and we went to Santa Monica for the afternoon. We got brunch at Blue Daisy and walked around the pier and other things in the area and did a Pokemon raid with a bazillion people and such. Then we went to Jenny's airbnb to get ready for the wedding with her and some of her bridge friends.
The wedding was at Ari's parents' house and unlike our wedding, they got the Final Fantasy music right (Ari's brother plays the harp so he played it, and Ari's sister played the cello). They also did responsive vows like we did :) The people at the wedding were a combination of bridge friends and tech friends and stuff, and we were seated at the Facebook table (with Jenny and with Mike and Michelle and others I didn't know). Food was kinda wacky -- they had people serving ramen in cardboard containers and salad in heart-shaped bowls, but everything else was small foods passed around by people carrying trays (but that wasn't clear until we asked some of the staff).
Chris and I left around 10pm because we were driving to San Diego (which was a largely uneventful drive); we got in around 12:30am.
Sunday we went to the Padres-Dodgers game with my friend Dani (since I wouldn't see her in MA for the Japan-US college tournament, we both decided to skip it this year). Petco Park is huge and nice, but enough Dodgers fans drive down that you seriously can't tell who the home team is most of the time. Kenta Maeda was starting for the Dodgers too, which was kinda lucky, but he pitched poorly and got taken out in like 3 innings. After the game Chris and I went to a fancy restaurant he'd booked a reservation at, Juniper & Ivy, and they gave us seats at the chef's counter so we got to watch them preparing food, which is always fun.
Monday we went to the San Diego Zoo with Chris's dad, who drove down to see us. The zoo is huge and has lots of animals, but it was hot outside and I was really sluggish after a few hours of that. In the evening we got dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant called Bice.
Tuesday we came home, stopping off in LA to have lunch with Chris's grandparents on the way. Oddly, traffic wasn't so bad on our way home either, aside from one incident where a car was ON FIRE and blocking traffic just as we were getting on I-5 past the Grapevine.