Saturday, November 21, 2009

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.

7 comments:

kmouse said...

Yummy! Don't you just love all the vegan food you can have in L.A.? Glad you had a good time. Maybe next time you're here we can grab a bite somewhere. I always want to meet my fellow vegan bloggers!

Jes said...

What rockin food in LA! I would kill for an all you can eat vegan restaurant out here!

miss v said...

welcome back! glad you had a nice time and your eyes are still intact!

jessy said...

sweet gloriousness - look at all the awesome food you and Laura enjoyed! good idea on steering clear of the parks and such on veteran's day. i shuddered just imagining the crowds. :) i left my klean kanteen at work once and totally turned around to get it even though i knew i'd be able to get it the next day. i hear ya on the water bottle. i also hear ya on the birds. i love me some animals, but for some reason birds just kinda creep me out. that's crazy the one at the zoo tried to attack you. i think i would have cried! ah ha ha! looking forward to reading about and seeing all the fun you got into in maine!

p.s. - two pairs of vegan shoes for under $90 = one helluva deal!

Oraphan said...

That sounds like a lot of fun! I'm glad you had a great time and tried a lot of yummy vegan food in L.A. Let me know next time when you're in L.A. again, I'd love to join you and kmouse:) We live only 15 min. away from LAX.

laura said...

i can't handle things with too many legs. caterpillars. millepedes. etc. creepy.

Unknown said...

Fantastic post my friend. When I come to town, I grab a room at a Santa Monica beach hotel and just hit all the restaurants in town. I know you're supposed to healthy and fit in LA, but I probably put on 10 pounds when I visit there.

Any tips on cheap eats for my next visit?