As the holidays came to a end, it was time to get back to work. 2011 means a new territory, this time the West Region (7 states - including: California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington etc.). The 2nd round of the journey started with a cross-country flight to Los Angeles where I watched Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps for a 2nd time. And I thought it was much better the second time around. Upon landing we checked in at the hotel in Irvine, California and had the California famous In-N-Out Burger. The lemonade was absolutely amazing...and I was surprised to see that a chain can be so successful with literally 3 items on the menu. Regardless of that it was delicious.
The next morning we made the drive up to San Jose, CA. The drive was quite long, but was a good way to see many different aspects of California. First we drove through Los Angeles and saw the hills of Hollywood. We also drove through Pasadena and saw the Rose Bowl up on the hill. Next came the plains of Tejon Ranch. After passing through the vast lands of Tejon Ranch we came across one of the largest cattle herds I have ever seen. There had to be at least 6 million cows on the side of the road - and the let's just say the ground was permanently stained brown from their droppings. And the scent of their crap stretched for miles...and it was ridiculously horrific.
After finally breathing fresh air again we drove through the Diablo Mountain Range and along various aqueducts along the road. It was a scenic journey, and reminded me of Lost and also the Gateway commercials with the cows running over the huge grassy hills.
We finally arrived at San Jose and checked into the hotel. For dinner we ate at a local Mexican grocery store, and had some authentic Carne Asada Tacos. The next day we stuck with the multicultural theme and ate at a super-Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was located in a shopping center where all the marquees where written in some variety of the Asian symbols. We ate at a Chinese restaurant where utensils were frowned upon, and so I practiced my chop-stick technique and graduated from completely miserable to some-what competent by the end of the meal. The sweet-n-sour ribs were alright, a little too authentic for my liking.
Dinner definitely was a much better meal...we drove to BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse and settled in at a booth to watch the NCAA National Championship - Auburn v. Oregon. Being out west it was literally Oregon city and I was one of the few pulling for the SEC team. The food and beer was delicious - I had 3 of the local brews (Red Ale, Wheat, and Light). Mozzarella Sticks for an appetizer and BBQ Roast Beef sandwich as the main course. We met an older gentleman named Larry who loves mountain climbing - has successfully climbed four of the seven summits already and wants to finish the other three in the near future. Larry was a riot, and gave us some great advice on what to do in the Bay Area for fun.
Tuesday was spent relaxing during the day, but the evening was spent Downtown San Jose at the HP Pavilion for the San Jose Sharks and Toronto Maple Leafs game. The Pavilion was nothing special...it had one round concourse surrounding the ice, and only two tiers of seats...which made walking around the arena quite quick and boring. The atmosphere and game on the other hand were not boring. The Sharks entered the ice through a giant shark-head that hangs from the rafters the rest of the game. All of the fans make a shark-jaw motion with their hands to the Jaws theme-song when San Jose went on the Power-play. Adding to the fun was the large amounts of Toronto fans who made the trip west. There were at least 3 bus loads of fans who came to watch their Leafs. It started slow with only one goal in the first two periods - 1-0 Sharks. However the 3rd period was filled with action...and winded up with Maple Leafs taking a 3-2 lead and then adding an empty netter to clinch the victory.
To make things even better was this group of trashy girls who sat in front of me. These girls had to be at least 16 and were both on the heavy side - the trashier of the two returned from the concession stand with a tray filled with churros, nachos, and a chili-cheese dog. And this uber-trashy girl's crack was hanging out throughout the game. The regular Shark fans continuously referred to her with somewhat-creative names: Crackers, McCracken, Crack-head, etc. and yelled for her to sit-down and pull-up her pants. So after the Leafs scored their fourth goal to take a two-goal lead a majority of the crowd got up and left. The trashy Sharks-fan was yelling at everyone to sit back down and cheer until the end, which as a another die-hard fan I completely understood. Regardless one of the other female Shark fans did not take kindly to this, and told her to pull her pants up. The trashy teenager responded with a swift middle finger and "F*ck you ugly b#t*h." The yelling continued as the one lady walked down the stair and towards the Exit...with words like slut and whore were thrown around casually. The fatso fan then hurled her remaining kernels of popcorn and a half-drank pepsi at the exit which showered down all over fellow Shark fans. This then ignited a screaming match between various fans and this group of teenagers. The teenagers were then escorted out of the stadium but security guards. The clock finally hit zero and the stadium cleared after all of these shenanigans. I exited the stadium to find the group of fatties gossiping outside on the sidewalk and the queen of butt-cracks got super excited when she found half a churro in her jacket pocket...one word TRASH!
After a crazy night at the HP Pavilion. The next day was spent with a viewing of Pirate Radio and then a trip to Clovis, CA (just outside of Fresno). The drive was very nice again driving through the Pacheco Pass - a passage through the mountains. We received a recommendation for dinner to a steakhouse "Cool Hand Luke's". I had a delicious prime rib and steak fries. The prime rib was super tender! The meal was also served with sourdough rolls and chicken and dumpling soup which was extremely tasty. Anyways...it has only been a few days since starting this west coast kick, but I have already seen so much, tried some new foods, and visited a new stadium.
Can't wait for more adventures!
