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January 08, 2008

Greetings From California

I’m Kristina, one of the people who shows up periodically on The Blonde Excuse, and when going to visit my Mom and Step dad in California, Lauren asked me to guest blog for her so…here it goes…

When Jason, my boyfriend, and I arrived in CA it was close to 11pm (PST) and we went home to eat some Greek food, Pastichio which is basically a Greek Lasagna if you will. Then once we were done with dinner we were given the options of opening presents then or wait until the next day…being a typical anxious person…I said now! Despite it being passed midnight and it being New Years Day and flying all day. So opening presents we did…

First here’s a picture of the “Great Room” decorated for Christmas.

This room is called the Great Room specifically because of the 22ft cathedral ceilings it has and because of this we usually buy an extremely large Christmas tree. It is usually around 12 feet tall and every year the tree is nicknamed “Pondo” after “Ponderosa.” Why do we give it that name...it’s because my Step dad nicknamed it after attempting to decorate it and string lights on the tree.

Here are our attempts to find the Christmas presents we hid in our suitcases…

Then we FINALLY opened some presents…

I was very lucky to get a new LAMB winter coat as well as a new silver necklace, an ipod touch (which is amazing I must add), this year’s Starbucks ornament (which I collect every year), a new pair of UGGS since my old pair has basically died, and many other things as well as California Shopping on Mom to some of my favorite boutiques!

Last but not least, is a picture of an ornament of my favorite boy band member when I was in my crazed I <3 JRT stage

The next morning we all repacked (well Jason and I) and headed down towards LA where my Aunt, Uncle, and Little Cousin live in Beverly Hills.

On the drive down (a 3 ½ hour drive) I got a little bored so, I took some pictures while on the Grape Vine. The Grape Vine is a Highway, which has many hills and turns since it goes through the foothills of the Sierra Mountains.

Once arriving in the LA area my Aunt said she still wasn’t ready (after several phone calls) so, we went to The Grove. The Grove is a popular outdoor shopping center with many stores and restaurants (i.e.: Barney’s CO-Op, J.Crew, Nordstrom’s, Barnes and Noble, Coach, Tommy Bahamas, Cheesecake Factory, Maggianos, and the Whisper Lounge)

However, before going into The Grove, Jason begged me to take this picture of the Hollywood sign from the parking garage.

Then after a few hours of shopping and a few drinks and appetizers at the Whisper Lounge, sorry I don’t have any pictures of there but the Hummus Platter and the Beef Skewers are amazing as are their Martini’s. I love pomegranate ones and theirs is among the best I have had. The atmosphere is truly spectacular and it has even made me interested in opening a similar restaurant in the SoNo area of Connecticut, we'll see if that will happen, in the future. In case you are in the area or interested in visiting there in the future, here’s the website: Whisper Lounge.

Then we headed to Beverly Hills where my Aunt lives with my Uncle and their daughter Mel.

Here are some pictures…

Jason and me on the balcony of my aunt's house

This is my little cousin Mel.

My Mom, Mel, and My Uncle (her father)

My Step dad and Mel

She finally learned how to use a headband!

Jason and me anxiously waiting for dinner

The following afternoon, we drove up the coast since this was Jason’s first trip to the West Coast and it was the first time I was out there since the fires that were in Malibu. I had visited Pepperdine University when on my college search while in High School and remember the area being far more green and lively than what I saw while there. The amount of land that was taken out and has to be rebuilt is unbelievable. The pictures I took don’t even remotely go to show how much the fires took away from this beautiful area. The palm trees have a black residue on their barks because of the fires and the smoke, which took over the area. However, Pepperdine is very lucky to be up on a hill that is a base of water so the area isn’t supposed to catch fire. The Fire Department made Pepperdine their headquarters for this reason when the wild fires were taking place.

This is a picture of Pepperdine University

We continued driving down the 101 (The Pacific Coast Highway) and headed onto the beach. But first, some of the multi-million dollar houses.

The Malibu Beach:

These are the beach huts they used to film Baywatch…look familiar?

Jason and me

My Step dad and Jason

Jason, my Step dad, and my Mom

My Mom and Step dad

Jason

It is definitely beautiful there and it is such a shame that the wild fires had to cause so much damage to the area.

We then continued up the 101 and headed inland towards the Grape Vine to Camrio where we had lunch. On the east coast there is no way we could see mountains while eating dinner in 60 degree weather in the beginning of January (that was until now).

Yosemite

A few days later we visited Yosemite National Park that is only an hour or so from my house and because of all the storms we were having on the west coast, we had quite a trip ahead of us. But, it was the most beautiful Yosemite has ever been over the last 4 years I have been there.

Here are some pictures…

The GPS

My Mom and Step dad

Tunnel to the Valley of Yosemite

Isn’t it beautiful?!?

Jason and me

The history

Bride Vail falls

The falls are at their best in April. Because of all the rain and snow the West Coast has been having this year it is probably going to be one of the best years to visit the falls during their optimal time. There are also camping areas and hiking when the weather is nicer in the late spring and summer.

After visiting the Valley we got a little hungry so, we decided to go to the Ahwahnee Hotel, which was built back in 1927 for about 1.25 million dollars. Mind you this hotel is rated to be 5 stars and reservations must be made a year in advance if you would like to stay there, especially around the holidays so, we made it a point to eat there and take a look around: Ahwahnee.

Look at the pinecones hanging from the lanterns. Those pinecones are the average size as opposed to the 3 inch ones we find in the Tri-state area

Jason and me

Their Christmas tree

The interior common room with the largest fireplaces I’ve ever seen

The windows

Jason and me (mind you Jason is almost 6’5 and he can fit in the fire place)

In the Ahwahnee there are also many reading rooms where people can play board games, cards, or read. This one is the Winter Room, which has pictures from when the hotel first opened, and the Ahwahnee tribe with the skis they used to use.

Someone’s attempt at building a snowman but they used a rock for his head

My attempt to hug a redwood

We still aren’t big enough to hug a redwood

We then went into the Ahwahnee Restaurant to get something to eat. My Step dad got the Chili, my Mom got the Soup of the Day, and Jason and I split a Roast beef Sandwich on a Kaiser roll with horseradish moose…it was delicious!

Then on our way back, we saw a coyote.

Then we got stuck in a traffic jam after making great time. We had to get back home by 5pm to meet some family friends for dinner and a movie (the Atonement). Unfortunately due to the inclement weather there were many accidents on the two lane highway where every car that wasn’t 4WD or had snow tires were required to have snow chains on their tires however, some thought they knew how to maneuver in the snow…clearly they were wrong. While waiting in the car for over an hour for the accidents and snow-banked vehicles to be cleared from the road we got a little stir-crazy.

My Step dad attempting to find out what happened

Apparently and Uhaul thought it was a novel idea to come to Yosemite without snow chains and tried to make a U-turn and another compact car without 4WD slid into a snow bank…it was about 30 minutes before we saw a gift from the patrol units.

A Tow Truck!

It was about another hour or so before we were able to move so…

Jason tasted some snow

Then my Step dad got bored and brought some proof that there was actually an accident…

The amount of cars backed up on the “highway”

The snow-banked car getting ticketed as we drove past.

From there, we thought we were home free but boy were we wrong. On our way home we managed to pass another 2 car accidents one of which was a flipped pick up truck. A word to the wise…if you drive a pick up truck in the snow or inclement weather…make sure you keep cement blocks or something heavy in the “trunk” area of the pickup otherwise you are more likely to spin out or, even worse, end up like this vehicle.

Because of all of these accidents we didn’t make it to dinner but we did see the movie, which was pretty good but not amazing. Then we went to dinner at the Elephant Bar which has a lot of West Coast type food, basically, Asian Fusion. It’s a really nice restaurant, which has a different type of style with safari type fans in the main area with an elephant coming out of the waterfall and statues of different animals within the restaurant itself.

Here are some pictures of us in the restaurant.

Mr. and Mrs. A (friends of my parents)

Jason and me

That was our last day in CA and the next day we were almost trapped in the valley of CA because of the storms. We were supposed to fly through Salt Lake City but due to the storm, the airport had shut down. Since we had to get back to the east coast my Step dad used his Platinum status to get us tickets through Los Angeles to go back to NY.

I hope you enjoy reading about my trip and about the different parts of CA!

Posted by lauren at January 8, 2008 01:12 AM

Comments

Posted by: Lauren at January 8, 2008 11:50 AM

Posted by: Jocelyn at January 8, 2008 12:24 PM

Posted by: Cupcakes at January 8, 2008 08:49 PM

Posted by: G at January 8, 2008 08:51 PM