Budman in California

OK! Apollogies for taking so long to update my blog! I've been away and now I'm back... for a little while, hehe.

From August 22nd to August 29th I was on vacation with my parents. My mom's cousin's daughter, Tamar, was getting married. My parents and I have never met her but my mom's cousin and his wife came to my brother's wedding last year (if you're lost, don't worry so am I), so to return the favour we decided to go to this wedding. To make a vaction out of it, we flew to San Francisco first and stayed there for 3 days.

The first day we didnt do much but check into our hotel. The hotel itself was nice but the area we were in really stank, literally. There were homeless people all over the place, talking to themselves and asking for money for booze. The streets were dirty and cluttered with garbage. It looked like a zombie flick. At night we met up with my cousin Joshua (Tamar's brother) who happened to live in Berkeley where he goes to school.

The next day my parents and I decided to walk from our hotel to Fisherman's Wharf. On the way, we passed by Union Square (the equivalent to Times Square),went through China Town, where we found a jewish restaurant (huh?!?!) and saw some really interesting buildings. These included a building chaped like a pyramid, a tower of some kind, and the church where Marylin Monroe married Joe DiMagio!! WOH!!!! Okay it's not really THAT exciting...now THIS is exciting!!! Once at the Wharf (couldn't resist), we walked along Pier 39. At the pier there was this kool aquarium, where see lots of kool fish. It was really kool because we got to walk underneath the water on a moving sidewalk and see the fish from above and to the sides. Also on the pier was a Hard Rock Cafe and a restaurant called Bubba Gump (like from Forest Gump). Also on the pier was an area infested with sea lions. Boy they were smelly! After leaving the pier, along the wharf was a wax museum where in the front were two statues of Madonna and Britney Spears. It looks JUST LIKE THEM (Shaking head from left to right). And what kind of trip is it withought some Hooters? Once we were down seeing the wharf, we decided to go back to the hotel by cable car. They are the only city that still uses them in the world (I think). They work by having cables that run undergroung, like a ski lift and the car has a clamp that grips the cable to be pulled up the hill (that's also Alcatraz in the photo) or releases it to stop moving. That night we went back and ate at a restaurant called The Stinking Rose - A Garlic Restaurant. The food was great and EVERYTHING had garlic in it.

The next day, we met up with my cousin Joshua again and droe down to Sanoma Valley - The Wine Country. We stopped at a couple of wineries and had a few drinks. One of the wineries was HUGE!!!! After the wineries, we drove accross the Golden Gate Bridge and headed over to Stanford University. We drove in through Palm Drive. The campus is HUGE! You can fit McGill AND Concordia inside it. They even had a display of statues by the famous sculpter Rodin. It was there that I stumbled into... THE GATES OF HELL!!! Upon returning from hell, I came accross a giant church located in the middle of campus. It was a donation to Mr Stanford from Mrs. Stanford. It had this incredible painting on the front of it. Upon further inspection, it wasn't even a painting, but a mosaic! We finished the long day off with some cheesecake and then I somehow fell back in time.

The following morning we left San Fransisco and headed towards LA. We drove along the coast. It was beautiful. We stopped in Carmelle for lunch, which is the town that Clint Eastwood used to be mayor of. Finally we made it to our stopover destination St Luis Obispo where we stayed at a motel called The Sands. It was very nice there and they gave you 2 free movies to watch in your room. I picked X2 knowing my parents would LOVE IT!!! (once again, shaking head left and right...)

We got up bright and early, drove 4 more hours and ended up in LOS ANGELES!!! Where we stayed at the McItyre Building!!! Er... I mean the Holiday INN Brentwood Belair.. they look the same to me. Maybe because they're both round...

In LA we met up with my aunt and uncle who stayed at the same hotel as us. That night we all went to the dinner party for the couple to be. I twas nice to see family I never met or haven't seen in a long time.

Day two in LA, we took a bus tour around the city. We went all over:
The first stop on the tour was Venice Beach. There was this awesome Jim Morrison mural. Of course there is the beach itself, but on the beach is the famous Muscle Beach Gym.

Okay it's late and I'm tired! To satisfy those who wanted an update, I'm going to post this now and continue the rest. So tune in next time! Same Blog Time, Same Blog Place!