I flew down to Los Angeles yesterday for the first time. Work decided I needed training and I needed it “NOW”. The flight down was definitely a delta flight that had a bit of anxiety inducing mechanical sounds grinding. It reminded me of the first time I flew to Atlanta a couple years ago on my first flight ever.
The first thing I noticed upon landing is that it was low 60s. Obviously people here consider that a cool temperature as the guy at Thrifty Cars was wearing a sweater/hoodie under his yellow safety vest. My two coworkers and I both from Seattle were already warm, so the difference was interesting. The one thing I have noticed is I don’t mind the weather down here in January. This would be a good time to go to Disneyland.
The next thing I noticed are palm trees. I have never been to a place that has palm trees that grow naturally. I mean I grew up on 80s tv that showed California and Florida palm trees but I had never seen one in real life that wasn’t in Seattle, freezing and on life support because it couldn’t survive. I am not sure why that caught my attention specifically, but it was interesting.
We then drove down from LAX to La Palma where my office is. Its about 26 miles so we drove the freeways and it took 40 minutes. I was surprised, I have heard how bad traffic is here in LA, but I-405 in Seattle is WAY WAY worse at the same time of day. It would have took me half again as long to get that far on I-405 in the Renton Curves. Funny enough one of the highways we took down here was also I-405.
I got to the La Quinta. A bunch of my coworkers were freaking out we had to use them. I found it a little worn around the edges. It obviously had a heyday sometime in the 90s or earlier, but honestly its fine. The bathroom was the tiniest bathroom I have seen in a hotel, but still not bad. The people who work here are nice. The biggest advantage is lots of cheap restaurants/fast food within walking distance. I appreciated that.
Then later in the evening we went to get food at a store and dinner. We decided to stop at In-N-Out. I have heard nothing but people extolling the virtues of the restaurant. I mean that is all I hear “you have to go to In-N-Out and get a double double”.
I ate it, and found it wasn’t bad, but nothing special to write home about. In fact I still much prefer Dick’s at home. I also noticed that “the greatest sauce ever” as it was called by others, was actually only Thousand Island Dressing. Seriously, I like Thousand Island, but its Thousand Island… not really a secret recipe. Maybe next time (if there is one) I will try just a cheeseburger, something that is more equal against a Dick’s cheeseburger.
Finally we went to the grocery/warehouse store next to the In-N-Nout named Smart and Final Extra. It seems close to the Cash and Carry’s that are near where we live, except there are more single serve items as well. It was funny, when I originally asked the hotel staff if there was a grocery store nearby they said the name and I asked if it was a bodega, for some reason the name just didn’t fit with a preconceived notion of what a grocery store was.
Finally I got home, worked on a couple of credit hours for work, and went to bed.
A Girl U Should Know 