Friday morning I had a leg & foot massage at the hotel spa, as well as a body wrap treatment. I really enjoyed this luxury and my new friend Liz, who is very good at her work. (Hi Liz!) Both were wonderfully relaxing and I returned to the room an hour later, a new woman.
After getting ourselves ready, we drove to Beverly Hills to meet the DU for a late lunch at The Ivy. It's a lovely little restaurant that is totally overcrowded with waiters & patrons alike. Even though we had a reservation we still had to wait like 20 minutes to be seated, but it was well worth the wait. I ordered their blackened shrimp over rice, which was delicious, but certainly nothing to get excited about. HU ordered the chicken fried chicken and loved it. DU ordered a salad and an appetizer. We never saw one single famous face, but the service was excellent, though rushed.
When we were finished with lunch, the DU drove us around Beverly Hills, Bel-Air, and to the top of Mulholland Drive, where you have a wonderful view of the entire valley.
The traffic is so bad everywhere that you can't just slow down or stop to snap a quick picture. We only had a couple of chances, but made good use of those opportunities.Next, is a picture of one of the mansions in Bevery Hills and another of a ranch style house on Mulholland Drive. We drove around looking for almost two hours & it was actually fun.
Friday night we had dinner at a place in Hollywood called The Velvet Margarita, which was wonderful. I had shrimp, again, but I can't remember what anyone else had. They do mix a mean margarita and I had several, which explains the memory loss.
Saturday was the day we planned to go to Venice Beach & Santa Monica, but a cold front had moved in and it was cold & windy. We went anyway, but it was a blistery cold with the high winds & gusts of sand in your mouth. I never even got within 100 yards of the ocean, wimp that I am. However, one highlight was getting my fortune told by Zoltar (the machine that turned Tom Hanks into an adult in the movie "Big"). Unfortunately, I wished for my body to be young again, but I didn't get my wish. Oh well. I will say, however, that hot flashes might have come in very handy, but none were to be found and I was freezing my saggy buns off.
We ate lunch on the beach @ Venice at a place called The Sidewalk Cafe, which was really good. I had a tuna salad sandwich on the most delicious & healthy homemade bread ever. After lunch we tried to walk down Venice Beach, but didn't last
long. Here are some pictures. 
Still, we did manage to have fun. So, Saturday night we went to dinner in Santa Monica @ a wonderful restaurant called BOA Steakhouse, which was superb in every way. The DU & her roomie MC came with us. We started out with martinis and appetizers of Tuna Tartare and Salmon with Caviar... both were completely amazing. Then, I had their Caesar Salad (prepared at tableside) and the filet mignon with a lovely glass of house merlot. In my opinion, this was the absolute best meal we had during our trip. IF I ever go back to L.A., it will definitely involve another meal @ Boa. Oh, and the service was beyond impeccable. I like good service.
On Sunday, the DU had a soccer game to play, so we went out on our own to find a place for lunch. After searching in all the wrong places, we finally found a little place on Sunset Blvd. called GOOD Microbrew & Grill. They offered more different types of beer than I had any idea even existed. We had a great light lunch on their outdoor patio there, but I chose a Bloody Mary over beer. I'm not much of a beer drinker. Anyway, it was a great spot for people watching & we enjoyed it thoroughly. However, all the high speed driving was taking a toll on me and I felt thoroughly exhausted just after driving on the crazy freeways with all the crazy people. In California the law allows those on motorcycles to do what they call "Splitting Lanes". In other words, they can slip up in between lanes & cars and basically haul ass while everyone in cars is nearly at a standstill. It would really freak me out when one would come loudly from behind, and I nearly wrecked the rent car a number of times.
Afterwards, we went back to the hotel & relaxed because our aging bodies were beginning to protest all the whirlwind activities. I went ahead & started packing, since we were leaving the following morning on an 8 a.m. flight. It was a great, restful afternoon and we watched the new Harry Potter on pay-per-view in our room.
Sunday night we met the DU & her roommate MC @ Barney's Beanery for dinner. I was originally going to have a cheeseburger, but for some inane reason, I finally went with the chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes & steamed vegetables. Big Mistake. Huge. It was absolutely awful & I couldn't finish it. Of course, everyone else thought their dinner was great.
The following morning we were up at 5 a.m. and ready to leave the hotel by 6:30 a.m. Everything went without a hitch until our connecting flight in Las Vegas. Something was wrong with one of the overhead luggage bins, and it took the idiot flight attendants 30 minutes to figure out what to do about it. I've never seen a Southwest flight that had such dumb & unfriendly flight attendants. We finally arrived home an hour late, but grateful to be home, where we don't have to go anywhere for the next month, if we don't want to...
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