I was greeted in Sunny California by my sister and my mama. We went to this great Vegan friendly restaurant and had grilled Temphe sandwiches. They were delicious and are actually now a favorite meal in my house weekly. I found a really great type of Temphe at Whole Foods that gives me some other great options other than just tofu. After our lunch Mother Linda dropped Whit and I off at her new apartment for the rest of the weekend. Whitney and I had originally planned our trip for San Francisco but Whit ended up moving back down to Long Beach before the trip took place. Though San Francisco would have been a blast I think overall Long Beach took the cake. The culture, people, food, beach, and friends was so much fun and comforting. It was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Prior to me coming out there Whit and I had every second of everyday that I was going to be there planned out. That is just the way it is with she and I, but the best part each part was planned around food and naps! Food and sleep truly dictate our lives... not complaining though. That is they way we were when we were younger so why change a good thing. So of course we got to Whit's new place settled in, took a tour, and then prepared for our afternoon siesta. ** About Whit's new place... it is absolutely darling. It is a perfect one bedroom apartment in a quaint neighborhood in Long Beach. There are a million windows in her new house that allow for plenty of natural light and air. The simplistic style of her home makes you feel right at home with the modern hip feel of a coffee shop. Her patio is no bigger than two chairs, a table, and some plants but you feel like you are still in your own space. My sister is definitely the botanist of the two of us and has a plethora of amazing greenery surrounding you inside and out. In he dining room she has a vintage table and chairs that she had found recently refurbished that accompanied a built in hutch with glass cabinet doors, drawers to hide goodies in, and a mirror. Above the mirror is a window that has panes of glass that separate like blinds when you open them. We make good use of them later on to dry bathing suits. Her kitchen is so cute and cozy with a ton of cabinets, over sized sink, and tiny oven. The most modern thing in that kitchen was a Cuisinart toaster oven that still reminded you of a vintage style; I have to say that if I lived in Long Beach where she lived my house would look the exact same. She paid a perfect contribute to the thirties style house that she lives in. It is absolutely amazing. One full difference from where she lives and where I live is the noise... you get use to living in complete silence so any noise outside would freak me out and she is so use to living in noise that the quiet was hard for her to get use to at my new house. In addition to the wonderful inside to Whit's apartment she is centrally located to the beach, the night life, and wonderful places to eat.** After Whit and I woke up from our nap it was time to get ready to go out for dinner and a movie for our friend Natalie's birthday in Los Angeles. I had never really been to Los Angeles other than Universal Studios or passing through so this was exciting for me. I have learned from Whit how much the city and culture has evolved into an expansive city of art, night life, personality, and love. Since Whit did not have a car anymore, (she did not need one in San Francisco), we were going to take the train up to Los Angeles. So when we get in the cab to the train station... there must be some kind of rule that one must stink like death to drive a cab in Long Beach. So we had all of the windows down and were laughing so hard because we did not know something could smell so bad. We got to the train station, bought our tickets, and boarded the train. Before we got on board Whit reminded me not to stare... I love to people watch so this was going to be a hard task to follow since within the first five minutes of me getting on the train there was some great things to look at. We took the train through Compton, Watts, and some other poverty stricken area of Los Angeles. In our venture up there was a a lady and a man that got on board of the train selling, "Grape Crush, Orange Crush, Pineapple Crush; Shoot we got any kind of Crush you lookin' for! We go candy too... anything you want for a dolla'!", this was amazing to me because they were doing this for a living. Naturally Whitney and I made friends with these nice to us but odd black people because they sat down right in front of us. At the next stop a couple of Mexican people got on the train and sat down right behind us. Since it was around 5 pm it was apparent that many of these people had just left work to go home. Well within 5 minutes the man that was sitting in front of us started yelling obscenities at the Mexican man behind us and it was kind of scary but interesting. There is still so much racial tension in the great city of Los Angeles. Well the woman that was in front of us then informed us that the man was really a woman and they have to put on this persona to help from being attacked or robbed (this much we assumed). Then the he/she began really getting loud, pulled out a knife for further affect in order to scare the Mexican man and then as soon as they came on board they were gone. WOW what a first trip on the train. When Whit and I got to our first stop where we had to change trains we had to wait for a little bit to catch another train that was going to take us to Los Felix. Los Felix was our end destination which is an upper scale suburb of Los Angeles. So again with some of the crazies in the train station a homeless black man just started saying some the weirdest stuff to Whit and I. I of course could not hear what he was saying in his ghetto slang but apparently some F bombs later we had to move. Soon enough the train came and we were on our way. It was the most culturally diverse experience that I had ever been in I can say. Maybe my first day at Cal State Long Beach but at least no one had a knife or was yelling at me! We walked out of the train station and sat a gas station waiting for Natalie and her sweet friend Yvonne to pick us up. Once they arrived it was a mutual exchange of hugs and smiles then on our way to Little Dom's Italian Restaurant. I would highly recommend this to anyone that is in Los Felix. Natalie’s other friend Lori came as well and the five us began the celebration of Natalie's birthday. We all had great food, drinks, and conversation. Before we knew it the time had come to leave to go see Eat Love Prey. When we got to the theater none of us really wanted to go anymore to the movie but rather we wanted to take Natalie out for her birthday. So off we went. After a fun filled night with too much fun for Nattie Pie, Whit and I decided against taking the train back through Compton at night and we took a cab back to Long Beach! Oh but the fun was not over yet as we then went to the Pike, which is a Long Beach favorite watering hole, and met up with other friends to finish out the night. So Whit and I did not get to bed until about three in the morning so at this point I had been up for a full 24 hours... I don't know if I could do it again but oh my we had so much fun!! The next day we got up at 9, got ready for the beach and headed out. We walked to one of Whit's favorite coffee shops for a steel cut oat and peanut butter smoothie. That was delicious and then we walked to Belmont Shores. It was, and I am not kidding, a 4 mile walk but after the night before we really needed the walk. When we got to the beach it was just as beautiful as I remembered. We laid out towels out and then got really comfortable in the sun. We both fell asleep in the sun within minutes and it was such a nice day I really did not want it to end. We tried to get in the water but it was so cold that it hurt! I really don't remember the water being that cold but as a kid I guess you don't get bothered as much with that kind of stuff. After we had enough of the sun we got our sun dresses back on and started to make our way back up to Second Street for lunch. We went to a great Lebanese place called Open Sesame and feasted on falafel, Hummus, salad, and water... lots and lots of water. As we were sitting there eating we were also watching the buses come by because we were not about to walk the four miles back to Whit's place again in flip flops. There were sore toes involved at this point and a nap was becoming more of a necessity than a luxury. On our journey down we had discovered that the buses came by every thirty minutes for pick up and drop off. Since it had been about fifteen minutes since we saw the last bus, we paid our check and quickly made our way over to the bus stop. After 20 minutes of waiting and no bus we started to look around to see if it was coming and nothing to be see for a while. I then peered over to the bus schedule to find out that in that area of town they come every 60 minutes!!! Well we did not want to waste our time together sitting and waiting for the bus so the next cab we found we hailed it down to take us back to Whit's place. As soon as we got in the smell of death from the Cabbie's mouth protruded our nostrils like a violent take over and Whitney and I both took cover for our clothes to try and mask the smell. Of course we could not and just laughed so hard we had tears coming out but absolutely no noise. We just could not take it anymore and just had him drop us off on the street by her house so we could get away from the odor. What is wrong with the smell of cab drivers in Long Beach?! We got to Whitney's house just a few minutes later to then find a cat had thrown up right in front of her door. Not on the grass or the sidewalk but on her front stoop. The cat was still lingering around so while we were laughing at the luck we have come across for all things gross Whit tried to spray the cat. It truly was a scene out of grumpy old men. We immediately took a nap and then woke up in plenty of time to watch a movie before the dinner celebration with our other sister Sue. It was her 30th birthday and we were taking her out to celebrate. We again had a great dinner filled with wonderful conversation and laughter. Needless to say we did not stay out all night and were in bed by 11; though this is super late for me it was incredably much earlier than the night before so it was early. The next morning we woke up to enjoy hot lemon water and the salt sea air on Whit's balcony before I left. It was such a great way to start the day. Before I left as well I wanted to eat a good breakfast as generally airport food is so expensive. So we walked down to an amazing place for breakfast and I had 4 buckwheat pancakes, a side of home fries, and a side of soyrizo. Whit had fruit... we had really eaten ourselves sick everyday that I was there but I needed to end on a good note. We walked back to her place, packed my bag and then off to the airport I went. It was really one of the greatest sister's trips we have ever had. Oh and I can thankfully say that the Cabbie that brought me to the airport was stink free and was in a Prius... awesome.
At the airport I packed my bag full of gifts for my boys as this was the longest I had been away. I had so much fun, (and so did they), but still felt a little guilty. My first flight from Orange County into Las Vegas was a breeze and the layover was supposed to have been short. So I settled in by the gate and started to read my book. Before I knew it the time had come to board the plane. As we all got on and were ready to get home the flight attendant staff came on and said that we now have a delay due to bad weather in Salt Lake. So we waited there for about 30 minutes for the weather to subside so we could leave. In the meantime families were de-boarding the plane in hopes to find other ways to get to Salt Lake City. Not me though... I really wanted to get home to my family. So within 30 minutes we were up in the air and on our way home. The flight time was only an hour so naturally the food and beverage service was short but this flight it was really short. I was lucky enough to have a window seat and as they said they were cutting the drinks short I looked outside was lucky enough to see the most beautiful rainbow. As I was reaching down to grab my camera I saw the ugliest black mass over Salt Lake and knew why the drink service was cut short. The pilot came on to say that we were going to have a bit of turbulence landing but not to worry. Well then the literal hellish plane ride began. We did severe drops and then severe pull ups... we were turning 45 degrees on our side. The plane was rocked so hard that two of the over head compartment doors opened up and luggage came flying out on patrons. One man received a broken arm and another lady received head trauma. We could not land in Salt Lake City but then were diverted onto Boise ID. People were screaming, crying, getting sick; It was the most serial experience ever. When we got to Boise they gave people the option to stay overnight in a hotel or get the next flight out. Knowing that they would not make the same mistake twice I waited almost the three hours to catch the next flight home. I ended up on the same flight with the same crew. The pilots felt so bad that they bought everyone that wanted them alcoholic drinks for the way back. We got in at almost 11:15 and what a day back. Thank goodness I had a good breakfast. Well apparently the flight was so bad they refunded us our tickets... when I fly again it will be Southwest for sure... great customer service.
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