Los Angeles
24 December 2008
So its been a week now in LA and its been a very busy one at that. Time has been spent between the house in Westwood, and hanging out with mum, my sister and her family and West Hollywood, hanging out with John & Rich who have so graciously provided my accomodation here and enjoying the West Hollywood fun spots.
Being in Hollywood movies are the order of the day and so far i've seen MILK, Frost/Nixon and Four Christmases. All great movies in their own way. MILK was amazing, emotional and definately worth seeing again. Frost/Nixon was an excellent insight into the Watergate affair and Richard Nixon's personality whilst Four Christmases was a fun Christmas film to see with mum.
It's been great to spend time with mum whilst here. We have hung out and gone shopping at Santa Monica and Westwood and basically made the most of having a car whilst here. There has been a non stop shopping fest in the attempt to get everyone's gifts for Christmas. I've succeeded on that front though. Well done to me! I've spent a fortune though...oh well....
Speaking of spending a fortune I lost my VISA card on Saturday night whilst I was out and in the 12 hours after I lost it before I realised and reported it stolen, someone had racked up $2000 of purchases on my account. Hopefully I will get all the money back but it is going to be a process. When you look at the places they went shopping it would suggest that someone found my card and went on a shopping spree....hardly to designer stores though.....the gas station, supermaket, Target and funniest of all was $33 spent at McDonalds! I mean it must have been a fat drag queen that found the card and figured what the heck!
So it's Christmas Eve here. Heading over to my sisters house in half an hour or so for Christmas eve dinner and Santa arriving. Should be fun. And then tomorrow will be the full on Christmas lunch. Boxing day we are all heading to San Diego as a family so that should be fun too. Having been there last week I have a sense of what to do so it should be a good couple days....
This time next week though I will be back in Australia for New Years Eve...happy to be going home and getting to see everyone there but not happy to have work right around the corner.....
Merry Christmas all!
Dave
:-)
Palm Springs/San Diego
16 December 2008
Hi everyone,
Well I just got back to LA after spending the last 7 days travelling between Palm Springs and San Diego. It was a great 7 days away and really gave me a chance to catch my breath after such a hectic and big year.
In Palm Springs I managed to play some of the best golf courses on the West Coast of America. I played at PGA West - the home of Western Golf in America and played the Jack Nicholas Tournament Cuorse, the TPC Stadium Course, the Mountain Course, Greg Norman Course and Arnold Palmer Private course. All were amazing and the Jack Nicholas and Stadium Courses were in use the week before for the PGA Tour Q School which meant they were in great condition. The Arnold Palmer course is used for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic on the PGA tour in January so that was fun to play on a course in use for the PGA tour as well. I never actually played my best golf but scored between 8-13 over at all the courses. Not too bad when considering how tough the courses were and the fact I had never seen them before.
At night in Palm Springs I mainly went out for dinner and then drinking at some of the bars there. Nothing too crazy but I did manage to meet some fun locals and get an insight into the Palm Springs way.
After leaving Palm Springs I headed to San Diego via the Santa Rosa Mountains. A spectacular drive through the mountain ranges and an Indian Reservation to reach San Diego. After getting to the Hilton at La Jolle and checking in I quickly changed and went out to the Hillcrest area of San Diego to have a night out on the town. i stumbled across some line dancing which was interesting and after chatting to some of the locals we eventually found our was to Rich's nightspot and danced until it shut at 2am....Sunday was a bit rough as a result...
After a rough start to Sunday morning I headed down to South beach to try out the legendary Fish Tacos at the South Beach Bar & Grill and they were amazing. Succulent Mahi in Flour torilla wraps.....who would have thought something so simple could leave your mouth watering for more....recommended....
Sunday night I again hit the bars to mix it with the locals once more. It's amusing how easy it is to meet the locals when you have an Australian accent...I was very well behaved though and was back at the hotel by 9pm as I was to play golf on Monday.
And so to Monday. Golf. Torrey Pines North....washed out by torrential rain. It was raining very heavily on Monday so golf was washed out basically. Too wet to play and I was getting worried that golf on Tuesday would be washed out as well. That was the important day as I was to play Torrey Pines South - the course Tiger Woods won his 2008 US Open on in such spectacular fashion.
But before golf on Tuesday I went to see Missy Higgins in concert at Belly Up - Solana beach with Arvin and Sharon, my friends from San Diego that i had met on the Saturday night. that was great fun and Missy was real good value. She interacted well with the crowd and it felt like I was watching her back in Australia.
Tuesday. Golf. Blue skies and perfect weather. Thank goodness for that. Shot an 82 - 10 over at Torrey Pines South. Could have been better but also could have been worse so in the end I was happy. Course was spectacular and it was really cool particularly given its significance in 2008. I played with these 2 US College kids from Texas Tech who were both of scratch but even they struggled and would have finished around 5 over so I didn't feel too bad. Was a good day all round and I would do it again for sure.
All in all a good 7 days away. Back in LA now. Lots of family things to do but I'm still going to manage to get out. With friends now in West Hollywood so trouble is almost at the doorstep...
Until next time. adios!
Dave
:-)
16 December 2008
Hi everyone,
Well I just got back to LA after spending the last 7 days travelling between Palm Springs and San Diego. It was a great 7 days away and really gave me a chance to catch my breath after such a hectic and big year.
In Palm Springs I managed to play some of the best golf courses on the West Coast of America. I played at PGA West - the home of Western Golf in America and played the Jack Nicholas Tournament Cuorse, the TPC Stadium Course, the Mountain Course, Greg Norman Course and Arnold Palmer Private course. All were amazing and the Jack Nicholas and Stadium Courses were in use the week before for the PGA Tour Q School which meant they were in great condition. The Arnold Palmer course is used for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic on the PGA tour in January so that was fun to play on a course in use for the PGA tour as well. I never actually played my best golf but scored between 8-13 over at all the courses. Not too bad when considering how tough the courses were and the fact I had never seen them before.
At night in Palm Springs I mainly went out for dinner and then drinking at some of the bars there. Nothing too crazy but I did manage to meet some fun locals and get an insight into the Palm Springs way.
After leaving Palm Springs I headed to San Diego via the Santa Rosa Mountains. A spectacular drive through the mountain ranges and an Indian Reservation to reach San Diego. After getting to the Hilton at La Jolle and checking in I quickly changed and went out to the Hillcrest area of San Diego to have a night out on the town. i stumbled across some line dancing which was interesting and after chatting to some of the locals we eventually found our was to Rich's nightspot and danced until it shut at 2am....Sunday was a bit rough as a result...
After a rough start to Sunday morning I headed down to South beach to try out the legendary Fish Tacos at the South Beach Bar & Grill and they were amazing. Succulent Mahi in Flour torilla wraps.....who would have thought something so simple could leave your mouth watering for more....recommended....
Sunday night I again hit the bars to mix it with the locals once more. It's amusing how easy it is to meet the locals when you have an Australian accent...I was very well behaved though and was back at the hotel by 9pm as I was to play golf on Monday.
And so to Monday. Golf. Torrey Pines North....washed out by torrential rain. It was raining very heavily on Monday so golf was washed out basically. Too wet to play and I was getting worried that golf on Tuesday would be washed out as well. That was the important day as I was to play Torrey Pines South - the course Tiger Woods won his 2008 US Open on in such spectacular fashion.
But before golf on Tuesday I went to see Missy Higgins in concert at Belly Up - Solana beach with Arvin and Sharon, my friends from San Diego that i had met on the Saturday night. that was great fun and Missy was real good value. She interacted well with the crowd and it felt like I was watching her back in Australia.
Tuesday. Golf. Blue skies and perfect weather. Thank goodness for that. Shot an 82 - 10 over at Torrey Pines South. Could have been better but also could have been worse so in the end I was happy. Course was spectacular and it was really cool particularly given its significance in 2008. I played with these 2 US College kids from Texas Tech who were both of scratch but even they struggled and would have finished around 5 over so I didn't feel too bad. Was a good day all round and I would do it again for sure.
All in all a good 7 days away. Back in LA now. Lots of family things to do but I'm still going to manage to get out. With friends now in West Hollywood so trouble is almost at the doorstep...
Until next time. adios!
Dave
:-)
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