The clouds were pretty dense that night, so many of the fireworks were half-hidden and looked more like it was raining fire and brimstone, but we were given an even better show by the crazies out on the beach with us. I knew the types you find in LA beach towns were a little off to start with, but mix that with a day full of drinking and you will run across some real nut jobs (mixed with home fireworks... bad idea).
Later that night we went to a local pub and found even more drunken crazies. We started playing pool and somehow nearly created a fight for telling people to put their quarters on the table to play the next game (you know, the way normal people do it) which pissed off the people who put their names on the chalkboard nearby (who knew?). In the end, Ben and Larry controlled the table for a good three hours before finally being defeated (yeah boys!).
And that's kinda where my pictures of this leg of the trip stop. Most of what I saw was Ben anyway, and he's mine! We stayed at an adorable little motel between Venice Beach and Santa Monica a couple blocks from the ocean. The first night we visited Hollywood Boulevard and Grauman's Chinese Theater, of course (and drove through Beverly Hills with the windows down blaring Weezer's song), and Ben lowered himself to eating a normal pizza (instead of a Chicago deep-dish) at a little Italian place nearby.
The next day we headed to the old farmer's market (which has very little produce and is now pretty much just a food court with slightly more character) and then watched Transformers (which was a great movie--and I'm not even a Transformers dork, unlike some I know ;-). Then we headed out to some bars around our hotel before heading home around 2. As we walked back, we hear and see a dozen cop cars come screaming around the corner we are standing at to a parking lot behind the bar we were just in. When we heard a shotgun cock from one of them, we knew we were in for a show!! The standoff ended peacefully, with a total of 11 people coming out one by one with their hands over their heads from two cars parked next to each other in the lot. We still don't know what they did that could have brought on that kind of reaction from the cops.
Speaking of guns, we also heard that day that someone had shot up the NY, NY casino, where we had spent the most time in Vegas save for our own hotel. Some nut was wandering the strip for a day and a half, and finally stood on a balcony of the NY, NY overlooking the casino floor and opened fire. He wounded 4 people before being tackled by some military reservists. Crazy!!
The last day we explored the beaches. First was Venice, though we sadly spent more time trying to find parking than seeing the stereotypical crazies I was expecting. Then we headed north to the Santa Monica Pier, where Ben got in the ocean for the first time! It was overcast and cold, but we had a blast in the water. The waves were so big it was a challenge to stay standing in thigh-high water. Ben played in the waves like a kid, and I watched from a slightly shallower spot ;-)
Then I had to drop Ben off at the airport :-( After seeing him off I headed for the nearest laundromat with my car full of dusty, sweaty clothes from 2 weeks in the desert. Of course I would find the one run by a youngish Mexican named George, who followed me around nearly the entire hour and a half I was there calling me guapa and trying to get my number.
At this point I had nowhere to stay for the night, having gambled on my friend who was observing Shabbas at the time and could not answer the phone. Finally we connected later that night and I headed up to her apartment in Beverly Hills. She took me out to a place on Melrose Ave called the Bungalow, where we caught up and reminisced on our time together in Melbourne over overpriced food and cocktails. It was weird to see that people do actually hang out in these famous places every day, almost as if it is normal. The most entertainment of the night came when we were leaving the bar, and a big black man came running after us to tell us that we were special, in the top 30 women in the world, and that we should never take any crap from any man. He continued on in that way, cracking both us and the bouncer up (and also telling us about the 7 women he has dated who have turned lesbian), for about 20 minutes before giving his phone number to Chana, at which point we realized he is a comedian by trade.... calling himself Sir Edward on stage. Never a dull night, I swear!!
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