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Seaside-tastic Weekend in LA

Kristin flew in from NYC on Friday night and we met up with her friend Kennebuntport and hit up the Thai/Elvis restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard. Not the best food - Fairly sad looking bits of chicken but the coconut curry broth was pretty good. Then we went for desert at the scenester diner Bite. Cool sparkly red booths and a generous slice of sponge cake with Chantilly and berries. We stayed over at Sarah’s place in Silverlight. Kristin had come to visit Sarah but ironically Sarah had to fly to NYC last minute so they missed each other. Sarah has the best apartment – beautiful wooden floors with old metal brackets and high ceilings. And so much room! I guess when you are used to living in NYC, a regular sized apartment feels like a palace.

Next morning, grey and chill, up early and a traffic-less drive down to Hermosa Beach to meet Sam, Kristin’s gregarious colleague and ex-mayor of the town! We met him at his boat and waited for 4 more companions to join us on our trip into the bay.

Sam’s sleek, 30’ boat slide off into the harbor and soon we were off down the coast looking up at sprawling mansions up on the cliff tops. Throughout the journey Sam told tales of Hermosa Beaches characters.

A few miles down shore we anchored in a kelp forest and some went diving, trying out underwater navigation skills. I braved the 55 degree water and went snorkeling but only for a few minutes. We saw a jelly fish!

After the divers returned we snacked-up and finally turned round back to shore. Back on land we dropped by a bar and then onto Sam’s house where we met his family and then went onto dinner in a Mexican restaurant by the Redondo Beach pier. Sam hooked us up with a room at the splendid Manhattan Beach hotel saving us the drive back to Silverlight which was a good thing as more than a few drinks had gone down by then.

We headed back to Sam’s after dinner. Xxx(?) showed us his Elvis impersonation but he was quickly put to shame when Kristin and Lauren showed off their singing skills. Kristin’s folk-pop against Lauren’s Opera. Ted did some great pianoing too. We got back to the hotel not too late but we were pooped! I was asleep before I could even get under the covers.