so, I'm currently in Piedmont, San Francisco,staying at a friend's house. I'm having a great time here, San Francisco is such a beautiful and great town.

I'm sorry all of you LAers out there, but LA did absolutely nothing for me. At all.
We stayed in Santa Monica towards the end though which was really pretty and laid back. The beach and the pier were all great and Santa Monica downtown was just really chill. Anything and everything else towards downtown LA was just ugly and crowdy. The city is so huge and spread out that it takes forever to go anywhere and compared to San Francisco the architecture is like a Mordor. There's miles after miles of low, grey garage-like buildings with fast food stops on every corner. San Francisco has beautiful architecture, color and views.
I'll admit, Beverly Hills was a nice neighborhood and Hollywood (through all its tourist cliché) was nice to have seen, but all in all, we fled out of LA before the end of our 5th day.

Did try out Six flags, InNout and lots of great stuff in the area though! Did not get to meet up with Rayzorblade even though I texted and called you

Tomorrow we'll be going to Russian River and on tuesday to Yosemite.
Then we'll see what happens!

Lots of thanks to everyone for all the suggestions and insipiration so far!
All in all, California is just a wonderful place!
The drive north on Pacific Coast Highway (we took 2 days to really let it sink in) was absolutely breathtaking!

I see why a lot of you people love it here!

More to come later!
oh and if you want to see pictures from the trip, I uploaded tons on http://www.resdagboken.se/Default.aspx?documentId=3&section=journey&journeyId=368275&userId=266231

The diary is in Swedish, but all of the pictures are right there on your right side, so just click on one and scroll through.

Gnite!

Rayzorblade

United States1172 Posts

August 17 2009 07:19 GMT

#46

lol, you tried to get in contact? T_T I'm 100% sad now if you did, cos I never got any txt or missed calls! was really looking forward to having you over!

nevertheless I'm glad you're enjoying San Francisco. LA does suck! gl hf the rest of your time in California!

GinNtoniC

Sweden2945 Posts

August 17 2009 07:46 GMT

#47

I did! I thought I even got one of those reports that says your text has been delivered!

I don't know if I texted or PMed to you here on TL, but I know at one point I said we were gonna spend the entire afternoon down at Santa Monica pier and have dinner by the Parise Wheel thingie (What's it called in English? ^^)

I'll actually be flying home on Thursday morning due to a job offer, but my friend will stay the full period and fly back to Sweden from LA the 29th of August.
So my friend is probably gonna pass through LA once more. I'll hand over the number you PMed to me at the beginning, but I'll warn you, he's very, very antidrugs whereas I'm not, so the smokie thingie is gonna go out the window with him! :D

I believe he will stay at Santa Monica Motel (cause that's where we stayed our last days before leaving LA and it was cheap + we liked it) Either way, I'll stay in contact with both of you!

Zidane

United States1684 Posts

August 17 2009 09:50 GMT

#48

Yes, I"m glad you agree SF>LA

SD is also a great place in Socal, way better than LA, but it looks like you're not in that area anymore.

Foucault

Sweden2826 Posts

August 17 2009 10:07 GMT

#49

Nice resedagbok, I hope you're having fun!

Tekin

2711 Posts

August 17 2009 11:07 GMT

#50

If were doing a TL meet up in LA IM IN!!

CharlieMurphy

United States22895 Posts

August 17 2009 12:39 GMT

#51

Sorry for offtopic but, Anyone know how much Blizzard testers get paid?

Those hours are perfect for me and I need another job.

JiYan

United States3668 Posts

August 17 2009 14:26 GMT

#52

East Bay Area is actually a very nice place to chill. If you want to just check out some interesting life, relax and get some good grub you can go to Berkeley and walk the main aves and stuff. theres actually a Norcal LAN on the 22nd in Berkeley too if you like. Also. i dont know where youre from, but if youre from Europe, you should try some California Asian food. I would argue we have the best outside of asia. Some key hot spots of great chinese food are in SF, Oakland, Milpitas, LA, Irvine, and Arcadia. For specific places just ask :D hope you have a great trip!

CharlieMurphy

United States22895 Posts

August 17 2009 21:51 GMT

#53

BoT, definitely try In-N-Out burgers (I dont think they are that amazing but everyone else does) it's better than most fast food. Maybe try out some mexican food too, you gotta find the right places though. I'm not talking chain fast food like del taco or taco bell (but if you haven't tried that, try those too).

Universal studies, Six flags magic mountain, disney land, knott's berry farm,and water parks (raging waters/hurricane harbor,etc). I haven't been to the first 2, but If I had to choose from the ones I have been - it'd be knott's, they have shows and stuff like a county fair does and they also have a bunch of roller coasters and thrill rides. If you go in october they change the whole park to Knott's Scary Farm and they have costumed employees creeping up on you and scaring you as well has haunted houses and 3d glasses.

PS- I'd remove your phone number off the previous page, remember it'll be here forever.