Los Angeles, California

Until this spring, i had only been to Los Angeles twice in the past. Once for a couple of days with a friend who lived in Huntington Beach back when i worked in Sequoia National Park, some 15 years ago, and then a few years ago during a 10 hour layover on the way to New Zealand. The first time i did typical dumb tourist stuff like walking around in Hollywood and it left a bad taste in my mouth. If the choice is between living in a giant forest at 7,000 feet, or hanging out in seedy Hollywood, the answer is clear. I was so jet lagged the second time that the only thing i remember is a nice meal and a something like a dinosaur hedge fountain.

This past spring, i went down there for the third time to visit my friend Jimmy, and to finally fulfill my promise to Maree to take her to some roller coasters. She is a roller coaster fanatic and has been begging me for years to go to places i have no interest in just because there are roller coasters.

Jimmy and his wife Michi took us to a bunch of good restaurants, to their friend's beach house on Newport Beach, and to ride roller coasters at both Knots Berry Farms and Disneyland. This worked out really well. I got to visit my friend, and Maree got to go on roller coasters. It worked out doubly well since i haven't been to either of those parks.

Grand Central Market has been around since 1917.

Jimmy took us on a short Blade Runner tour. This is the Bradbury building, very nicely renovated. In the movie this is the dank building where wear J.F. Sebastian lives.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown is home for the L.A. Philharmonic . A pretty neat building, as are all of Frank Gehry's designs, it looks as strange on the inside as it does on the outside.

Knots Berry Farms was somewhat disappointing in its look and feel. Although they had more manly rides than Disney, the park layout and decor is unattractive. And it's a lot smaller than i thought it was, while being pretty much just as expensive as Disney. Disneyland was smaller than i expected, but the outlying areas associated with the park were larger. I think what i liked best was the Matterhorn, one of the rides not available in Disneyworld.

We had a great time. It was nice to get away from Alaska during pre-breakup. I'd have more pictures but i decided one day to stick with just my phone, and as soon as i tried to use it i found out the battery had died because it spent the whole night looking for a signal in Jimmies subterranean apartment.