Choose Your Own Adventure
[2012-09-13 17:45]
Day 1:
I decided to take the Sound Transit Light Rail to the airport, and decided to walk to the station to see how long it would take. On my way out, I stopped to dump my garbage/recycling/composting which resulted in me walking out of the alleyway behind my condo. As I emerged onto the street, I noticed a guy, wearing all black, walking out of the alley behind the neighboring condo-complex, directly across the street from me. Being 5AM, it was odd to see another person on foot at that exact moment. More oddly, he walked to the end of his alleyway, stopped, and adopted a pose a little like a gunfighter at a showdown (hands at hips, feet spread apart, facing and staring at me). I guess this is going to be one of those adventures. Anyway, my fight-or-flight response kicked in and I chose the Ignore option, and walked away. Scary alley man wins! (Okay, maybe he was a security guard. We'll never know.)
Time to walk to rail station: about 30 minutes. Light rail to the airport: about 30 minutes. Time to get through security check: about 30 minutes. I'm seeing a trend here.
Comikaze is in Los Angeles, and I have a cousin who lives there. Based on his suggestion, I flew into Burbank instead of LAX, though. All in all, very hassle free. They have rental-car kiosks at the airport, about 100 yards away from the rental lot, so I was able to get the paperwork and pick up the car without leaving the airport. Very cool. I'm staying at the Courtyard Marriott at Burbank and it's literally just down the road, so very convenient and, surprisingly, not noisy at all. Visiting LA? I highly recommend Burbank over LAX (so far, anyway).
Courtyard Marriott: I was a little worried because, on the web, a lot of hotel sites mention that you either have to use their valet parking (which costs a fee) or pay a fee to park it yourself. The Marriott is, thankfully, not like that -- it has a parking lot that you can use without needing any special passes or valets. The room is perfectly adequate, seems clean (no bedbugs, as far as I can tell), and has the usual amenities (flat-screen tv, coffee pot, mini fridge, air conditioning, free wi-fi/internet, etc.).
There are only a few things about the hotel that make me pause.
1. There are two one-liter bottles of water in the room that have a label saying that they're provided for my convenience, but that I'll be charged $3.50 each if I use them. Thanks but no thanks. I figure prices at Comikaze will be like that, though.
2. The neighborhood is little like the SODO area in Seattle: industrial, not residental. Just across the street (maybe a little further) from the hotel is a shopping center, but there's no grocery store nearby.
Said shopping center does have an area with a bunch of restaurants, though, so I went there for lunch. Most is not very special (Panda Express, Outback, Subway, etc), so I chose Daphne's California Greek. All in all, it's pretty good, like a Greek version of Baja Fresh. Falafel Pita + side Greek Salad + side Fries (I was curious -- Greek Fries don't taste/appear different from French Fries) + baklava + ice tea = about $11.
After lunch I drove around looking for the elusive grocery store. I can't really describe how, but found a Ralph's that turns out to be fairly close to the hotel. I'm pretty sure I bent my Wookiee getting there.
At Ralph's, I decided that, being on vacation, I deserve beer (yes, I know, I'm unemployed so every day is a vacation, but, well, you know...). While perusing the beer aisle, wondering if I'd find Red Hook in a can (which, apparently, they're planning on marketing), a helpful gal working there chatted me up and told me about the "cheap beer" section in what sounded like the darkest corner of the store. She regaled me with the tale of a shopper who found three Jose Cuervo beers there for $1 apiece. Maybe I'd get that lucky. Distrusting the bargain basement of beer, I chose a Red Stripe instead, out of curiosity, and also bought a gallon bottle of water (for about $1 -- take that Marriott!).
Which leads to #3 of the things that the Courtyard doesn't have: a fridge large enough to hold a gallon bottle of water. The way the mini fridge is designed, the only way to shimmy the fountain of life into it is on its side, trusting the integrity of its twist-top cap. We'll see how long the cap lasts.
The other thing the hotel room doesn't have is a bottle opener and, sadly, Red Stripe does not have a twist-top cap. I was almost successful (and almost very proud of) opening the beer with my key ring. But, said cap proved tougher than the ring.
But this is the 21st century and we don't need no stinking bottle openers. When in doubt, ask teh Interwebs. Apparently, there are 31 ways. However, I don't have a lot of the items mentioned, and don't want to risk damaging the few that I do have. Unfortunately, the napkin option didn't work for me, but the toothbrush option did. So now I'm about 20 ounces into my 24. Hooray Beer!
Dinner will probably be at the Outback (I've never eaten at one before). Tomorrow I'll begin my pilgrimage to Meltdown Comics, Golden Apple and maybe nearby Hollywood and Sunset Blvd.
Stay tuned!
Update (20:00): Dinner @ Hook Burger, near the Outback (et al), just a few parking lots over from the hotel. Bistro Burger was pretty good but very messy; onion rings are decent, but not special (and volcanic hot inside, when they first arrived). North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner was tasty, but I hit my limit around ounce 14 (leaving 2 in the glass). Blightner would be appalled at the waste. (Sorry B).