Impromptu LA trip

The beauty of living in the US again is that I can take impromptu trips back to see the SO in LA. Why doesn't she visit me in Ann Arbor? Because it was 14 freaking degrees in Ann Arbor. Can't blame her. 

So thus I was off to the land of perpetual sunshine and 70 degree weather. First stop Detroit Wayne Airport. 

This is such typical American excess. The tram only travels maybe half a mile between one end of the terminal and the other. It's almost as necessary as a 64 ounce big gulp. So in America, that's a yes. 

My Delta flight was supposed to leave at 8pm. We sat at the gate for about one hour before the pilot came on the PA to tell us that due to the overhead bin being jammed open we could not take off. Maintenance was coming to fix the problem. 

The maintenance worker's first solution was to push the bin back into position. When it didn't work he pushed harder. This went on for a comical 45 minutes. After that didn't work they used duct tape to "secure" the bin closed. Well, the pilot didn't like the maintenance workers' hack job so he told them to remove the whole thing. This was after 2.5 hours of them trying to fix the issue. With the bin removed we finally took off. I'm glad that these are the people I entrust to maintain and take care of these gigantic steel tubes that magically soar through the air. 

Oh and our compensation for being delayed close to 4 hours. $25 off another Delta flight? F' you Delta. 

So after finally arriving in LA, the SO and I visited the new Santa Monica mall and proceeded to finish off a bottle of wine at Sonoma Wine Garden. Thank you Delta, you're causing my alcoholism. 

The next day was a day spent with the SO and her family as we visited Little Saigon in the OC. We were there to look for fabrics for our wedding gift bags. That was painful to even write. I hope the SO doesn't read that. Oh wait she does. JK my love!

Anyways, so walking through the parking lot of the mall there's this weird statue garden. 

Oh you crazy Asians. 

They had an outdoor market area. 

Inside one of the malls. It's really like being in Asia. Enough trinkets and food to keep Asian grandma's supplied with stuff to give out to their grandkids saying "Eat more you're too skinny. Don't tell your mother that I gave this to you"

Vietnamese take-out. 

The SO's mom bought me shrimp rolls. Sooo good. 

These little kids were running around with the snap thingies that you throw on the ground and I had to get them. Fortunately, the SO's mom wanted them as well so she bought us 5 boxes. I proceeded to throw them everywhere. Didn't bother me that the other people frantically throwing the party snaps on the ground and screaming in delight were about 5 years old. 

I guess when you're in Little Saigon, the targeted ads are selling things that you normally wouldn't see in other parts of town. Advertisement for comfy chairs with arm and foot rests for manicures and pedicures. I had an analogy for another race but realized it was racist. 

The flowers were cheap. 

Confucius says...

What's a visit to a predominantly Asian area without a gluttonous Asian meal. Today's lunch was seafood.

 The most giant lobster I've ever seen. I wanted to keep him as a pet and train him to be a vicious lobster fighter. 

This place, like your mom, had crabs. Ohhhhh...

The aftermath of our meal. This was also after they took away 2 other dishes. I love Vietnamese/Chinese food. 

Monday morning I was back on a plane to Ann Arbor. I had to wait a bit for the bus to take me from the airport to Ann Arbor so I had lunch at Chili's. 

Absolutely delicious Southwest burger. Oh man I hadn't had bacon like that in years. 

So at the Chili's I also had the first "oh the Midwest is definitely not LA or NYC moment." The bartender comes back to me after taking my order and said "Wow. I love experiencing the unexpected. Your English is really good. I'm just amazed." Now he said it with a totally genuine I'm just surprised way so I didn't take it as racist. So I had to tell him "Well yeah I expect it to be good. I was born and raised in the US." He was like that's cool man. I bet he was still thinking wow an Asian speaking perfect English. Ah the Midwest. 

The next couple of days after I got back from LA were forecasted to be snowpocalyse. It wasn't that bad actually.

Just like ten inches of snow. 

Got my new Sorel boots on. I'm Midwest stylin'.