Orlando ( another rental car post)

This week I went to Orlando. I've been to Orlando approximately one million times. This means that I've pretty much done everything that can be done in that city in a few hours. This could lead to boring trips. But, Hertz has made the past two trips fun. Last time I went down, I got a fun volvo convertible. This time I got an Infiniti M35. It had everything. As I was driving to my hotel I noticed a weird sensation in my butt. My butt and legs were cooling for no apparent reason. I started looking around and noticed that the car had heated/cooled seats and it was on the cool setting. The feeling of your butt independently cooling is not something that you experience very frequently in your life.

Blast from the Past: Santa Barbara, San Jose, San Francisco

A while back, I had to go to Santa Barbara and San Jose. My brother lives in S.F. (which is very close to San Jose), so I spent some extra time out there. We went all over S.F. and did pretty much everything. It was great!!! I walked myself to death.

First Stop: Santa Barbara. Very pretty and very rich. The beach was gorgeous and all of the buildings were spanish style and white. Unfortunatetly, it was very windy. This meant that I didn't venture out too much. It hurt to go outside! But, this lovely view was from my hotel.

Second Stop: San Jose. The area I stayed in was not very photo-worthy. But, my stay coincided with the tea parties. I think they were protesting raising taxes? Anywho, here was some of the protest in San Jose.

Third (and fun) Stop: SF. This is the Bay Bridge.
Fisherman's Wharf

Sea Lions at pier 39. They were very lazy. And loud. And smelly.
Golden gate bridge. Who knew they had suicide hotline phones? I wanted to call, but my brother talked me out of it. Apparently, this is one of the most popular places in the great USA to commit suicide.

During my stay, the cherry blossom festival was going on in Japan town. It was huge! They had music performances (like this drum group), arts/crafts booths, a movie festival, and a car show.
I don't eat Sushi. But, if I did I would totally frequent this place.
"Weird ice cream" in Japan town. It's really called Mochi. It's chewy and pretty good. I think these were green tea, strawberry, and mango. The stuff on top was bean paste. It was disgusting. Beans should never be in a dessert.

Orange, CA and Los Angeles, CA

I love going to California. The flights are long, but it's totally worth it. So, when something in California comes up in the office I'm generally the one that goes. In fact, in April, I went to the LA area two weeks in a row. That was a bit much (even for me), but its still one of my favorite places to go. This week I went to Orange, CA and spent an extra night out in LA. I didn't really do anything in Orange. But, while I was in LA I went to Rodeo drive, The Grove (shopping center with a cool farmer's market), Universal Citywalk, and Malibu.

On my flight to Orange there was a cute puppy in the white carrier that is on the cart. While the workers were not very gentle with the lugage, I am happy to report that they were very nice to the puppy.

This is the view from my hotel in Orange. The Anaheim Angels stadium was a block down the road. This is a hazy picture of the stadium. It was really hazy that mornig.

Beyond the black car there is a homeless man with a white, fluffy cat on his shoulder. He had a sign, but I wasn't close enough to see what it said. I'm sure it was something witty.
Coconut cupcake from Sprinkles. No trip to LA is complete without a visit to Sprinkles. The store itself is tiny. While I was devouring my delicious treat, the line formed outside the store. I wanted to take a picture, but I decided that might creep some people out.
This was the view from my hotel in Universal City (LA). Universal Citywalk is to the right and WB studios is off in the center.
After I drove around Malibu/Santa Monica, I went to a shopping center I had read about (Malibu Lumber yard). This sign was outside Intermix. I appreciate the value that they put on my shopping privacy.

Blast from the past: Honolulu and Maui

Sometimes I whine about my travel. OK, I whine a lot. That is because most of the time I go to not-so-glamorous locales (i.e. Cookeville, TN) and spend less than 24 hours in said towns. But, occasionally I get to go somewhere cool. I've written about Seattle, Vegas, and LA. But, the best by far has been my whirlwind tour of the great state of Hawaii.

First stop: Waikiki beach. I spent one night here. It was very pretty; very crowded; very japanese; and had very high-end shopping. As I walked to my hearing I was a head taller than everyone else in the hotel. Granted I was in heels, but it was very Lost in Translation.

Second stop: Maui (more specifically Lahaina). I stayed here three nights. I fell in LOVE with Maui. It was as beautiful (if not more) than Waikiki. And, it was much less crowded. I decided that maui is heaven. And, it was whale mating season. I saw real, live whales. I heard real, live whales when i went underwater. I know that this is really corny, but I've never been in so much awe. Unfortunately, my attempts to get pictures of the whales were total fail.



Side note: I'm watching More to Love (fat ppl dating show) as I type this. They are in Hawaii. I'm crossing my fingers for a bathingsuit scene!

Rental Cars

One of my favorite things about traveling is walking up to your rental car. It's like Christmas morning, you never know what you're going to get. Or a box of chocolates?

Having a fun car can make a blah trip much more enjoyable. Take, for example, my trip to Orlando last week. I got a convertable volvo. Who knew Volvo made a convertable? Not me. But, it was awesome.

Having a not so fun car can put a damper on a trip. On the opposite side of the car spectrum from the volvo convertable that I mentioned earlier is the minivan that I had in Maui. Yes, a minivan in Maui. To make matters worse, everyone else in the rental car parking lot (all being over the age of 60 -- did I mention that Maui is expensive?) had fun (mostly red) convertables.