Category Archives: Los Angelos

November 26, 2009 · 7:11 am

"It Never Rains In Southern California"

On my first visit to southern California in July I failed to realize the beauty of the climate here. In the middle of summer the temperature tops out at around 80 degrees (which is cold for a Georgia boy). But in the middle of November the temperature tops out at around 80 degrees! Which is amazing coming from Georgia! The other beautiful thing about the weather here is it never rains! In the four months my family has lived here it here “it has maybe rained 3 or 4 times”
On day 1 of this trip to San Diego I decided to journey with my brother through the hills of California near our home on bicycle. Not having ridden a bike for years I struggled up and downs the hills and valleys of southern Cali. Thoroughly tired and sore I was ready to head home.
Day 2 started off early with a voyage north to Los Angelos! We went on college tours of some of the best schools this region has to offer. The first tour was of the University of Southern California. Living on the east coast all you hear of USC is Trojan Football but the school as a lot to offer outside of the football field.
(USC Library)
Next stop was the University of California-Los Angelos. This week was an interesting time to visit both institutions because the inter-city rivals play in their most anticipated game of the season on Saturday. In preparation for the big USC-UCLA football game both schools took careful measure to protect the statues of their mascots from the other.
At USC a group of students known as Trojan Knights wraps Tommy Trojan in duct tape and bubble wrap and guards him 24 hours a day for the week prior to the game. UCLA takes a different approach by just installing a tarp that is dead-bolted in place. But both schools are buzzing with the excitement of the upcoming game. I don’t think you could have picked a better time to visit these institutions with each school overflowing with school pride!
(UCLA campus)

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Filed under bruins, college tour, football rivalry, Los Angelos, mountain biking, San Diego, trojans, UCLA, University of California, University of Southern California, USC

August 1, 2009 · 5:53 pm

San Diego: Day 1 & 2

With my family making a big move from Snellville, GA (“Where Everybody’s Somebody”) to southern California, I had to personally check out where they will be residing.

In this economy you have to save money where everywhere you can. So I decided to use a student ticket to get to San Diego on the AirtranU program. You fly at a very reduced price if you don’t mind flying standby. After getting to the airport at 8am trying to get a flight to San Diego that was severely overbooked, I ended up on a flight to Los Angelos.
Arriving at LAX International Airport I stepped foot for the first time in California. My Cali adventure got underway by splitting a rent-a-car with another traveller from my flight. Also on her way to San Diego she missed her flight so we both went to LA. With the GPS in the windshield, windows down, and radio up, we took our little PT Cruiser south of LA into the heart of southern California.
With my new friend, a probation officer from Lawerenceville, GA at the wheel we travelled through some scenic California neighborhoods. Any fans of MTV reality shows would love this drive through the Hills, Laguna Beach, and Newport Beach. The picturesque Spanish style homes made this drive quite enjoyable.
My first full day of San Diego started off with a walk down the harbor in the downtown region. We then embarked on a double-decker bus tour of the city with a great view from the front of the bus.
We toured through most of the highlights of the city including the historic Gaslamp Quarter Historic District, the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum, and Balboa Park. Balboa Park, one of the country’s largest city parks, houses a number of museums, restaurants, gardens, and the San Diego Zoo. I look forward to spending the next few days exploring the park and some of the other aspects of San Diego.

(Statue in Balboa Park)
For any fans of Top Gun, I was challenged to find the place that the bar scene from the movie was shot at (Shout out to my boss, Eric Johnson! Thanks EJ!). They actually had pretty good BBQ too.

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Filed under Balboa Park, Bars, LAX, Los Angelos, Movie Filming, San Diego, Top Gun