Once again we were driving into a new city and about to stay with some people we had met only briefly beforehand in some crazy location. This time the location was Laguna 69 in Peru's Cordelia Blanca; we were camped at 4500m when Eric & Jessica turned up for breakfast and asked to borrow a lighter for their cooker. We got talking and were quickly invited to stay with them when we passed through California. Little did we know but that breif meeting on a mountain would turn into an awesome house to stay in for our week in LA.
When we arrived in Newport beach, LA, Eric said they had a beach BBQ planned but they just had to pop out and grab some supplies. We wanted to go with them but they refused so we stayed behind and got to know their house mate Daniel. Later we found out that Eric hadn't wanted us to go with them as they were collecting firewood from rubbish skips and construction site's! To be honest that sounds like something we would totally do; anyway down at the beach Eric already had the fire going when we arrived with Jessica and the hotdog supplies. This classic American meal of hotdogs and beer followed by gooey s'mores was just what we needed and we had a great night swapping travel tales! Amongst the adventure both of us couples recalled how sick we had gotten at times and how difficult it can be when your with your other half 24/7, fortunately we had all come out stronger for it. We must have still been hungry when we got home though because we said yes when Eric offered to heat up some of his other house mate Tom's famous ribs.
After a lazy start the following morning we went for brunch at a cute little outdoor diner overlooking the beach then spent a couple of hours driving around Newport Beach with Eric and Jessica. Eric was actually moving out of his house that afternoon but arranged for us to pay a little rent and take his room for the week while they were in-between flat mates, could it get any better! Eric and Jessica went to Jessica's cousins house for their last night together in LA before going their separate ways to be with family for Christmas and had invited us to join them later that evening.
When we arrived in Newport beach, LA, Eric said they had a beach BBQ planned but they just had to pop out and grab some supplies. We wanted to go with them but they refused so we stayed behind and got to know their house mate Daniel. Later we found out that Eric hadn't wanted us to go with them as they were collecting firewood from rubbish skips and construction site's! To be honest that sounds like something we would totally do; anyway down at the beach Eric already had the fire going when we arrived with Jessica and the hotdog supplies. This classic American meal of hotdogs and beer followed by gooey s'mores was just what we needed and we had a great night swapping travel tales! Amongst the adventure both of us couples recalled how sick we had gotten at times and how difficult it can be when your with your other half 24/7, fortunately we had all come out stronger for it. We must have still been hungry when we got home though because we said yes when Eric offered to heat up some of his other house mate Tom's famous ribs.
After a lazy start the following morning we went for brunch at a cute little outdoor diner overlooking the beach then spent a couple of hours driving around Newport Beach with Eric and Jessica. Eric was actually moving out of his house that afternoon but arranged for us to pay a little rent and take his room for the week while they were in-between flat mates, could it get any better! Eric and Jessica went to Jessica's cousins house for their last night together in LA before going their separate ways to be with family for Christmas and had invited us to join them later that evening.
The hot weather and salty breeze were calling Will who really wanted to have a swim before we moved further north and it became too cold, he also wanted to get Scout in there for a dip. So that afternoon we hit the dog beach and despite the cold water Will and still tiny Scout were crashing around in the waves much to the delight of all the on lookers.
That evening we were welcomed into Jessica's cousin Vanessa's house and met her family of husband Jessie, two kids and two dogs. We joined the fun and grabbed a glass of Southern Comfort and egg nog; it was sweet and delicious. This was followed by an equally delicious pizza feast and then later in the evening we had beer and more s'mores around their outdoor fire pit. With the kids in bed and the dogs busy we talked and laughed into the night and had a really fun evening with loads of advice about what we could do while in LA. Though buying more egg nog and So.Co. was top of the list of things for us to do. Needless to say we slept the night at the Rolla’s house.
The next morning after some bacon topped pumpkin flavoured pancakes we thought we had better seize the day and navigated our way through eight lane highways to the Santa Monica Pier. Knowing we would be going to some theme parks in the next few days we simply walked around and kept our money firmly in our pockets. We tried taking Scout with us but he was too crazy to handle with sooo many people around and everyone wanted to stop and pet him so we put him in the car. We knew it was a little hot but the air con had just been on, all four windows were cracked and he had a fresh bowl of water. However when we arrived back at the Dodge thirty minutes later some lady runs over to us and says "They took your dog. There was like twenty people here worried about him they were going to smash a window but the police came and took him". The ticket under the wiper gave the address and there was no damage to the car so we drove to the animal shelter wondering how all this could have happened, usually he's hidden in the back behind the window tints but he must have come forward for a drink and been spotted by some god-righteous animal lover.
The next morning after some bacon topped pumpkin flavoured pancakes we thought we had better seize the day and navigated our way through eight lane highways to the Santa Monica Pier. Knowing we would be going to some theme parks in the next few days we simply walked around and kept our money firmly in our pockets. We tried taking Scout with us but he was too crazy to handle with sooo many people around and everyone wanted to stop and pet him so we put him in the car. We knew it was a little hot but the air con had just been on, all four windows were cracked and he had a fresh bowl of water. However when we arrived back at the Dodge thirty minutes later some lady runs over to us and says "They took your dog. There was like twenty people here worried about him they were going to smash a window but the police came and took him". The ticket under the wiper gave the address and there was no damage to the car so we drove to the animal shelter wondering how all this could have happened, usually he's hidden in the back behind the window tints but he must have come forward for a drink and been spotted by some god-righteous animal lover.
The guy at the animal shelter gave us a stern talking to about the dangers of leaving an animal in a hot car and despite wanting to argue our point we were all yes sir no sir in the hopes of evading a fine. The officer turned out to be nice and basically said he couldn't charge us because the vet check him over and found Scout was perfectly fine. With that debacle over we decided it was time to check out Muscle Beach just down the coast.
At Muscle Beach we did the same thing I had done over fifteen years ago and roller bladed along the famous beach pathway. Scout thought it was super fun and pulled us individually along at high speed. A couple of times we had to pull a quick manoeuvre to avoid hitting someone and I think twice Will fell over. The action we saw along the beach was colourful to say the least and after returning the skates we walked back along the stalls. As the sun set things really started to get interesting; we were offered hard drugs several times, could have had countless consultations with so called doctors for medical marijuana and brought many counter fit items sold by muscly men with dreadlocks and tattoos. Just when we thought we had seen it all we watched a big guy in tight pants perform a dance routine in some roller skates... We finished the night with a heart attack inducing peanutbutter and bacon donut sandwich from the "Trashy Gourmet".
At Muscle Beach we did the same thing I had done over fifteen years ago and roller bladed along the famous beach pathway. Scout thought it was super fun and pulled us individually along at high speed. A couple of times we had to pull a quick manoeuvre to avoid hitting someone and I think twice Will fell over. The action we saw along the beach was colourful to say the least and after returning the skates we walked back along the stalls. As the sun set things really started to get interesting; we were offered hard drugs several times, could have had countless consultations with so called doctors for medical marijuana and brought many counter fit items sold by muscly men with dreadlocks and tattoos. Just when we thought we had seen it all we watched a big guy in tight pants perform a dance routine in some roller skates... We finished the night with a heart attack inducing peanutbutter and bacon donut sandwich from the "Trashy Gourmet".
The next day we were up early and after leaving Scout with Daniel we ventured into a world of crazy themed rides at Disney's California Adventure. We had the theme park insiders guide which instructed us to get a 'fast pass' for the Radiator Springs ride and then head to Soaring Over California. We did all the major rides and really enjoyed the 3D shoot-em-up Toy Story ride as well as The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and California Screamin roller coaster. The Aladdin show was fantastic especially sitting down after all that standing in line. Though we found the highly recommended World of Colour a bit lame and felt a bit like we had to suffer through it as we were trapped between the hoards of people all standing on our tired feet. Exhausted and full of processed unhealthy food like cream cheese pretzels and corn dogs we headed back to our new home and went straight to sleep.
We designated the next day as an errand day and after a slow start we managed to make it out of the house, Wills project was to strengthen our rapidly deteriorating roof rack in the Home Deport parking lot. One of our overloaded roof rails had snapped on one side after the rough roads we drove in Death Valley so Will attempted to reinforce it by cable tying blocks of wood underneath the rail where the heavy roof box sat to stop the flexing. This looked like it would work pretty well other than the fact that when Will put them in he broke the other side of the roof rail as well! We now needed a new roof rail more than ever but luckily for now our crazy contraption of locks and tie downs was just holding everything in place. While Will was doing all this I was busy spending a few bucks on some super cheap new outfits at the Ross store next door. Earlier that day we had taken Scout to get his last round of vaccinations at four months old and also had is rabies titer test done to check that he has rabies antibodies for his trip to New Zealand.
On the 18th of December just a week before christmas we went to Disney Land it was awesome being there with all the christmas displays on so even if we wouldn’t get a white Christmas here in California we were still having a very lavish American Christmas experience. This time we had no dog sitter for Scout so we decided to take him to the Disney dog kennels at four months and one day old he just made the cut for the age and vaccination requirements. But the poor guy had some pretty explosive diarrhoea just as we walked in which was horrific for us to try and clean up with people watching… It put a bit of a downer on the day especially when we arrived back at lunch time to find he had had another ‘episode’. We hoped he would be ok and decided to not give him his dinner as we continued to explore the never ending areas of Disney Land until just before closing. We again used the theme park inside advisor and skipped the lines with our fast passes for Space Mountain and the Indiana Jones ride which we both really enjoyed. In fact the longest line we waited in was for the infamous 'It’s A Small World After All' ride as I remembered it from when I was a kid and had to take Will to spot the tiny New Zealand display with the Maori girl and Kiwis. But after two days inside these man made ‘wonderlands' we had had enough. Adventure for us was found outside in the wild with no price tag attached though we could see how the kiddies could like it.
The following day we took Scout back to the Vet who took a poop sample to figure out what was going on and then we did some laundry, watched some TV and contemplated leaving the next morning. It was a nice day completed with a nice evening when Daniel and Tom invited us out for dinner and a beer at this dog friendly bar called The Lazy Dog. We sat outside as the sun set and ate our delicious food while Scout tipped over and then chewed both his bowel of rice and bowl of water agh the joys of having a dog! At least he didn’t get the runs again while we were there. Daniel and Tom were awesome guys as was their other house mate Will and we hope we can see them all again when we return to LA for Scouts final vet checks before we fly home.
On the 20th of December we left the craziness of LA and headed north once more.
Rochelle & Will
On the 20th of December we left the craziness of LA and headed north once more.
Rochelle & Will