Los Angeles

On the way to Los Angeles, we made a pleasant detour to a local spot in Laguna Beach. It was a hidden cove on the ocean, with extremely coarse sand and freezing water. Therefore, we decided to tan and relax. After the beach, we arrived at Chad’s place (Eugene’s friends place) on Santa Monica Boulevard, LA. We talked for a while and Chad took us to a great local ramen noodle spot, which we eagerly wanted to visit. After a long 45 minute wait (at 10pm), we were finally seated. (The place is really popular it seems) The ramen was really good – it was a big serving of great ramen noodles, soup, whole egg (almost fully hard boiled but not until the end so the middle was still a little liquid), pork strips and sprouts.
The next day we woke up late and got ready slowly. We intended to go surfing – we got the boards, loaded them in the car and drove over to a spot Chad told us was good. There were A LOT of surfers, but NO waves, so we decided to go to the beach. Chad showed us the original muscle beach, and afterward took us to Venice beach. Eugene and I were both very surprised by just how cold California was. The temperature was around 72 degrees F, and the water temperature was much lower. We tanned until Dallas, Chad’s girlfriend, came by and we proceeded to drive around, get some fast food (Eugene skipped out), and went back to Chad’s to shower and prepare for a night out.
The second evening we went to the top of a hill to an overlook to see the Hollywood sign and downtown L.A at night. This is where Los Angeles’ smog came into play. The pollution caused by cars is so horrendous that distances are nearly impossible to see. We could not see a single tall building and the Hollywood sign was out of the question. We went to a bar where Chad’s friend worked, drank some beer and/or vodka, and/or wine, and then headed home for a good night’s sleep.
Morning, next stop: Death Valley.