View Larger MapOK so it's 10.30pm Wednesday night and I get a call from Danielle who is moving from Seattle to LA the next day to start a new job. A few days ago I said that I would come with her for the drive and fly back. It was one of those things you say but you're not sure if you're even serious or not. Anyway she asks if I'm still keen to make the trip down so now I have to put my money where my mouth is and make a decision. I tell her I'll call her back that night or in the morning after I check out flights back etc. So after a bit of thought and a little research online I made the decision to go... nothing like being spontaneous I say!
So Thursday morning I get up and pack a bag and head to the Greyhound for the 10.20am bus to Seattle. It is a prefect day in Vancouver and we had a semi-decent snow fall overnight and I had to tell Jon that boarding was off... oh well you can't do everything and I had an image in my head of a perfect day at the beach in LA and soaking up some much needed sun.
The bus arrived in Seattle at about 3pm and Danielle picked me up from the Greyhound station downtown. We had to make a few stops to drop off some bits and pieces to some of her family and friends and ended up heading out of town around 5.30pm. We were headed for her 'Auntie's' place in Vancouver, Washington, just before the Oregon border and Portland. We arrived at 9pm and were greeted with a massive Singaporean dinner... "Eat until you drop" were the instructions from Ruby. She was absolutely hilarious talking non-stop and telling all sorts of funny stories. I eventually had to crash at about midnight and try and get some sleep before I had to drive the next day.
The next morning (Friday) we awoke at about 7am to a massive cooked breakfast. Ended up leaving the house around 10am and drove an hour south to the Woodburn outlet mall where we did a little shopping... for 3 1/2 hrs. Ended up leaving there at 3.30pm for the remaining 9.5 hr drive to San Francisco. After missing a couple of turns we arrived at Adrian's (Danni's friend from Uni) place in Tiburon, just outside San Fran, at just after 1am. We didn't waste too much time getting to bed.
The next morning (Saturday) we went for brunch with Adrian and his girlfriend near their place and then drove into the city, stopping at the Golden Gate and the 'Crookedest Street' for some pics before getting on the road again just after 1pm.
The drive to LA was pretty good, with perfect weather, straight roads and little traffic. I drove until about 6.30pm when we were a couple of hours out of LA and Danielle took the wheel. Five minutes later we were pulled over by the
CHiPs (California Highway Patrol) and booked for going 90 in a 70 zone... not a good end to the trip!
We kept to the limit after that and arrived at Danielle's new apartment just after 9pm. We had a couple of drinks with her flatmates and then walked down to the bars by the beach and had a couple there but were way to tired to stay very long.
Sunday we got up pretty early and went down to the beach again for some breakfast then threw the football on the beach for a bit. It was a perfect day of about 26C and the place was packed full of people playing volleyball, busking, eating, biking, rollerblading, fishing and even surfing. Then Jonno, Danielle's flatmate came down with his bike and we hired bikes and rode with him along the beach to Manhattan Beach where we went to a bar and met up with some of his mates and drank beers for a couple of hours, including about an hour session of 'flip-cup'.
A lemonade stand... just like in the movies!
Manhattan BeachThat night we went back down to the beach for some Mexican food then back to bed.
Monday morning we went straight to the airport where I got a flight Back to Van and Danielle few to NYC to start her new job.
What a whirlwind trip!!!
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After hitting a couple of runs flat out we got a bit cocky and attempted to get from one black diamond to another through the trees. We DID see the sign that read 'Cliff' but obviously were feeling pretty damn invincible so carried on trying to make our way through. Then we decided to take our boards off and step down over the rocks, logs and trees. Then Jon took a massive tumble and things got very dicey. I had my hand in the pocket ready to call in the rescue teams but we managed to pluck our boards out of the trees after we both lost them and slid down and back onto one of the runs.
