Newport Beach, the OC and LA

With Vegas behind me I felt I had a chance to lay back and relax on the beach for a few days. Essentially my obligation to this blog had ended with Vegas, but I think there is a space for a bit more. The Greyhound bus from Vegas to LA was fine... a bit cramped and the odd dodgy person but nothing to really worry about. Lauren picked me up from the bus station and informed me that it was situated in a particularly dodgy neighbourhood. Oops.

Anyway, we drove over to Newport Beach, catching up a lot on all that had transpired in the year since we met. Newport is a small town in the Orange County (OC), 1 hour south of LA and is famous for being the location of the popular TV series, The OC. She was living in a loft apartment 1 block from the beach with 2 other housemates. All 3 girls living there (Erin, Jackie and Lauren) were waterpolo players. I was shown my couch where I was going to sleep for the next few nights and was quite pleased with the size and comfort. Lauren and Erin were eager to show me the Newport nightlife so they drove us off to a bar called The District. It was fairly quiet but there was a hilarious guy singing 60s and 70s covers in the corner. He even had shiny, sparkly coats for his Elvis songs. We stayed for one drink before calling it a night.

The apartment, just one block from the beach

Myself, Erin and Lauren having a drink at The District

The morning started early. I was awoken by the sound of scurrying feet next to my sleeper couch. It turned out that the 2 cats Perry and Marley were having races down the corridor. They would race down to the end where Erin's room was and then walk calmly back before repeating it.This happened at least 5 or 6 times and seemed pretty bizarre to me. When everyone was up, we were off to Laguna beach. This place is also famous for the show Laguna Beach. We took along a beach volleyball and played against some young guys from Vegas. After a fairly close game (we lost), we swam in the ocean which was fairly cold but refreshing and baked in the sun before going back to Newport. We stopped off to buy some supplies for a burger and sausage barbeque later that afternoon and made some punch called Hop-Skippity (Beer, Lemonade and Vodka).

Laguna Beach

I sucked at Mario Kart

Erin and her cat Marley

A bunch of Lauren's friends arrived in the late afternoon for food and to play Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64. Wednesdays were the big night out in town so after the barbeque we went down to Malarky's Irish Pub where I met the whole Newport crew. Lauren and Erin got hold of my camera and took close to 100 pictures! I had to cut out a few gems for the sake of space and respectability.

Party started on the couch already

Drunken Darts

Steve (Erin's boyfriend) and me partaking in a friendly game of darts

Steve pulling off a great face and me appearing to be chewing his ear

I had known these people for one day!

More love

Too much love

The bar staff

Hangovers were communal when we woke up. We countered this with an amazing breakfast at the Omelette Parlour and allowed our meals to digest on Newport beach. We played some more volleyball and swam a bit before crashing back at the apartment. All this activity was exhausting!

Omelette Parlour!

Newport Beach

Water safety was paramount so I donned my barbie tube

Rudi's Sports Bar was our destination that evening. Some of Lauren's friends work there so we popped in to say hi and got some "I know the bartender" drinks specials. I met a cool Canadian guy called Will Farrell... very similar in name to one of my fave actors.

Long tongues

Julia and Will Farrell

My penultimate day was on Huntington Beach which was hosting the US Open Surf champs. We saw some pretty gnarly surfers shredding the waves although the big names were only due to arrive at the end of the week. The surf wasn't too big at the pier but the beach was packed. Lunch was spent at Big Belly Deli (all I seemed to be doing was eat!). They made massive, delicious sandwiches which I managed to finish all in one go.

Goofing around

Another day, another beach - Huntington Beach Pier

Lauren then drove us over to UC Irvine (her university) where there was a big waterpolo match on against UCLA. UCLA kicked butt. Erin cwas a bit of an obsessive Harry Potter fan so she "encouraged" us to go see the latest one with her that evening. Much to my personal chagrin, 10 minutes into the film I realised that I had missed the previous film! The last night was spent at Rudi's again. A DJ had been brought in for the weekend. Lauren's friends, Scott and Tyler, were working the bar so again the drinks were super cheap for us!

My flight on Saturday was only scheduled for 10pm so Lauren and I headed through to LA for a daytrip. We walked around Venice beach, checking out Muscle Beach (where steroided pumped dudes lift weights to entertain the public) and the skateboarders. Next we took a drive through to see the Hollywood sign. Our route took us through a picturesque neighbourhood that was situated on steep, narrow, tree-shaded roads that wound treacherously up and around the slope. We popped out at the top of a valley ridge that gave close views of the Hollywood sign and a large panoramic view of LA.

Muscle beach at Venice beach

Canyon Lake and LA in the distance

Lunch was spent at In-N-Out Burger and from there we moved into Hollywood Boulevard where we saw the Chinese Theatre where most of the big LA movie premieres take place. All along the street are the star signs from famous actors as well as impersonators who will let you take a picture with them for a nominal fee.

Lunch at In-N-Out

Chinese Theatre

Superman!

Last stop was at Rodeo Drive where we window shopped and indulged in wishful thinking. The street was remarkably quiet and serene... not what I was expecting at all. There was a sophisticated, classy feel to the area that was briefly clashed with by wandering groups of tourists. We spotted some beautiful cars too!

Rodeo Drive

This Mercedes Mclaren SLR will set you back close to $500 000

This Rolls doesn't come cheap either

By then it was getting late so I needed to be at the airport to catch my flight to Washington DC. Lauren kindly dropped me off and I was back to reminiscing about the past 4 days of fun.