LA in a Day

When we booked our tickets to Melbourne (via Los Angeles), we decided to spend 24 hours in LA visiting friends and family – and what a great 24 hours it was! We kicked off the time with Lynne’s cousin, Roger Jr. and his wife Val. After getting picked up from the airport, we had a great meal at Father’s Office (great burgers and quite a selection of beers) and then crashed at their house in Culver City. We were able to sleep in and start preparing for the big flight. Later that morning we went out to breakfast with Roger, Val and their boy/girl twins Van and Harper. We went to Manhattan Beach to a place called Uncle Billy’s, a kickin’ pancake house that overlooks the ocean. Mind you, we were coming from temps in the high 30’s to this warm, sunny, beachy haven…it is hard to believe that folks in LA wake up to this every day… After a great breakfast, we were able to borrow Roger and Val’s van and drove up to Oak View to visit our friends Ched Myers and Elaine Enns. We got to see their new/reconstructed “green” house, caught up over some great food (Ched’s turkey soup is just awesome) and took a walk around Lake Casitas. As the sun started to set, we took off for LA to catch our late-night flight. It was a bit surreal to think that we were heading out on a plane again towards a place about 8,000 miles away that would take us 16 hours to reach…