Entries tagged with usa

Entry tags:

holiday,
usa

All good things

Well, my holiday has come to an end. I've utterly failed to write anything in LJ for pretty much the entire duration[1]. But, in my defence, it has been a busy and wild ride, of sun, rain, snow, surf, wind and stars; friends, dogs, music. And scenery. A whole lot of scenery. I love this country, and California in particular due to its presence in my childhood. The smells of eucalyptus, skunks, and other peculiar things bring it all flooding back.

Let's see if I can make it a bit less than 10 years until I next come back. If only to do all the things that I didn't quite manage on this trip. And now, as per userpic, back to the rainy spires. Though the forecast looks good for this coming week, at least...

[1] If you're all very, very lucky, I will try to write some of it up in more detail.

Entry tags:

holiday,
usa

Taste Explosion

Having a 7am "I'm awake now!" moment, so I thought I'd do a quick writeup of last night. After entrusting our car to a teenager (I never can get used to valet parking), we went to a restaurant on the end of the marina called Parker's Lighthouse, with a view of the lit-up Queen Mary across the water.. I had chargrilled Albacore tuna - caught locally, I believe. Following the waiter's recommendation to have it cooked medium-rare, I was treated to one of the most delicious pieces of meat I have eaten. It's hard to hold over-dinner conversation when each mouthful makes you want to close your eyes, savour the taste & texture, and go 'mmmmmmm'. The chargrilled outside was tasty and ever so slightly crispy, and the medium-rare inside was succulent, subtler-tasting, and the combined effect was, well, mmmmmmm.

We're goiing to have a look round the Queen Mary this morning, then it's off to Westwood, LA, to meet up with family friends, including the ones I stayed with for 3 months during my gap year working at UCLA.

First lot of photos now up on flickr.

At 7am, this is your mildly-jetlagged USA correspondent checking out.

Current Location: Long Beach, CA

Entry tags:

holiday,
usa

USA

Hello!

I landed last night. Fairly uneventful flight. In-flight entertainment has come a long way since I last flew transatlantically - now with newfangled screens in every seat - watched Run, Fatboy Run; Control; Atonement and another film whose name escapes me.

Security theatre at heathrow was surprisingly absent - didn't get asked to remove my shoes, and didn't get my multiple eletronic gadgets checked.

Immigration into the US was a right pain - took an hour just to get to the baggage carousels.

We have rented something called a Chevrolet Impala LT - seems to have a reasonable amount of go, but the engine is quite unsettlingly soundproofed, so I am aware of a vague noise somewhere up front, and the car surges forward. I can also start the car from the keyfob outside the car, which is very exciting(!)

It's raining, which is putting a bit of a damper on sightseeing so far, though will probably pop along to the aquarium here in Long Beach in a bit. We're staying two nights (last night and this) in the Hilton, which is in the worryingly-named World Trade Center.

Then tomorrow it's off back to LA, to meet up with family friends, and stay in an unused house of theirs in Westwood.

ETA: I will of course be producing photos for this trip. You will be able to find them at my flickr account - including a photo of the crash-landed BA 777 we could see from the departure lounge. Not a good advert. ;-)