Tamar was a sweetheart (and a SCAD grad, too! go check out his webcomic if you're inclined), and let us use the real person's bed, as opposed to the single foldout in the living room. After a decent night's sleep, we were up, showered and out to check out the Border's down the street that was going out of business. Unfortunately, we were a little too on the ball, and we learned that apparently nothing in the Hollywood area opens before 10am. Except the Trader Joes! To kill some time, we headed down the street and picked up some snacks for the road, and then mauled what was left of the book selection at Borders. Now I have to figure out how to get more books into my suitcase. Shit.
Before too long (amazing given our propensity for books) we were on the road again and stuck in traffic once again as we headed south towards Seal Beach. I was not sad to see LA go, since the traffic had made it pretty stressful. On the other hand, I do suspect that it was the only place where I could see an old VW bug with NOS in it. Seal Beach wasn't really a place that we were going to stop initially, but when I found out that it was close to LA, I insisted that we head down there for a bit so that I could relive a little chunk of my childhood.
This trip is the first time that I'd been back to California since my parents and I moved out here for a summer the year I turned 5. It was only a summer transfer for Dad's work, but it was a hell of a time for me, since that summer was the first that I remember so fully. EK was pretty awesome and indulged me, despite the fact that it was out of the way. When we got to the beach (and were generously gifted a parking pass from a guy who was heading out), we headed out to the very end of the pier so that we could have lunch at Ruby's, which is a pretty swank little diner, 40's/50's style. I remember that they used to serve kids meals in little cardboard Cadillac trays that fascinated me as a kid. I had an amazing Cobb burger, and EK enjoyed a fried seafood medley that was pretty yummy. After a few pictures to indulge my Mom, we were back on the road, and mostly traffic free for once.
We struck out across California and the Mojave Desert, which was pretty and, well...desert~y. The drive would have been a lot more palatable if I had been able to reliably use the cruise control without cars deciding to do silly things like slow down arbitrarily and change lanes in front of semis and the like.
About 3:30-4, we hit Vegas and checked into our hostel, the classy Hostel Cat, whose location was definitely underneath a sign that read, "Strippers," next to the "best" adult bookstore in Vegas, just down the street from "Precious Slut" tattoo parlor (as well as several other tattoo parlors), and across from two different wedding chapels. Vegas is just as classy as you might have imagined. Our hostel definitely felt the skeaziest of any that we've stayed in so far, but I really think that was a function of Vegas, more than anything else. Hostel Cat did a very good job of making sure that we were secure, and making sure that people (hookers) were not allowed in. We bummed around until just after 8, and then decided to hit the strip, since apparently it wasn't very far.
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To be fair, it wasn't. Comparatively. The Main strip was on the same street as Hostel Cat, but when you start out going several blocks in the wrong direction and then head all the way down to Caesar's Palace, it's something like 4 miles. We got shuttled through Treasure Island, and might have gotten a little lost until we eventually wound our way through to the outside. We wandered down the strip a bit more until we got to Caesar's Palace, and began our walk around and through the shops to the casino itself. We stopped off for a bite to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe (shameful, I know), and then hit the slot machines, which is to say that we put a couple of dollars in, I didn't know how to work them, and then we left to find a bus to take us back to the hostel.
If there's one thing that Vegas has going for it, it is definitely the public transit. We had the best bus driver ever, and though we overshot our stop a bit, it was a hell of a lot better than walking all the way back at midnight. We made it back to the hostel safely and once again, passed right out.
Day 10:
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