Los Angeles Visit

After a great 8 day vacation to see many people who are of great importance to me in my life, I have decided to break up the vacation update post into the two states. I went to California first, so that is what I will present to you.

I missed my flight and it delayed my trip by 3 hours. I was upset but it was not a crisis. When I finally got into LA, Laura was waiting for me. I have not seen her in almost 2 years and the visit was long over due. She is a major player in my life.

When I am in LA, I insist on going to Happy Family Vegetarian III. It is a guilty pleasure. Is the food great? Hardly. Is the decor fun? Far from it. Is it cheap? Not especially. Is the service amazing? Nope. I love this place because you can get the "all you can eat" combo. There is about 150 items on the menu that you can choose from. They range from squab to pork and every vegan thing in between. You order one plate at a time and when you are finished, they ask what your next plate will be. I get to try all sorts of weird mock meat items in small servings and I love it! It eat until someone stops me. Fun Fun Fun!

Oh...and Laura liked to poke her fingers or some eating utensil into my food photos! She is so silly.

That night Laura and I went to the Planetarium. To be honest, my interest level in a planetarium has been pretty low. However, Laura was right, this place it cool! I even got to find out how much I weigh on Mars! The night was clear so there were a ton of folks out. There was a great overlook toward the city if you are into that. We watched a 40 minute video that was narrated by some wandering dork. Great stuff!

Next day was Veterans Day and we did not realize it. We scrapped the Zoo and Universal City due to the crowds. We had a nice relaxing day just hanging out. We went to a bakery and got some vegan goodies.

Went to Truly Vegan for lunch. This is a place that was right down the street from where Laura went to school and were her old apartment was in Hollywood. Each time I have been out to see her, this is a spot we hit up.

Three years ago, Laura moved to Los Angeles to go to film school. She graduated and is doing very well. I am extremely proud of her. She currently has worked on every season of the Animal Planet show, Whale Wars. We had to stop by the Whale Wars studio for about an hour this night. I got to poke around and got a few nice pictures!

For dinner we went to Laura favorite Los Angeles Indian place, Paru's. We found this place a few trips ago when I visited her. It is a weird set up as you have to ring a door bell because the front door is locked. Then you head in and get seated way in the back and relax to enjoy a great Indian dining experience.

Day 3 was the an early lunch at Madeline Bistro. Vegan fine dinning. It was really tasty and fun. Then we stoped at Alternative Outfitters and I grabbed myself 2 pair of vegan shoes for only $86. I have been in the market for some shoes for awhile so this was a happy moment.
Then it was off to the zoo. I am anti-zoo, for the record. I also love to see funny animals. It is a conundrum. I will not bore you with silly animal pictures but I will tell a little story. Some of you may know, I am afraid of many animals. Mammals do not bother me and neither do insects. Birds however, I am confident are all waiting to peck my eyes from my sockets and fly away with them. The zoo was getting ready to close and Laura and I went back to the African Wild Dog display. These things were incredible and I am sure are even far more intimidating when actually in the wild. Anyway, on the edge of the display was a large bird. I was watching the dogs run around and Laura was taking pictures, when all of a sudden, this huge bird makes a crazy noise and tries to kill me. It flew straight at my head and at the last minute turned and flew into a tree. Laura caught a picture of my half excitement and half horror.


Dinner that night was at Vegan Lotus. I had never been, but Laura has stopped in several time. It is right down the street from where she get her motor scooter repaired. It was actually very good and will be a place I will return too.

Then it was off to Maine in the morning for a very different type of vacation. I left my water bottle in LA and had a panic attack at the airport. Laura overnighted it to me in Maine because I am crazy.