My last installment of the vacation recap was Universal Studios Hollywood.
Recap of the recap: Go. It's awesome.
Alright, our trip to the amusement park was Thursday. We still had 3 days of vacationing ahead of us!
So what did we do next? Priorities people.
BEACH DAY!!!
Technically on Friday we had to wake up a little early and deal with a replacing a flat tire.
But even that bit of bad news is still technically good news because of how it all went down. We were cruising right along at 70+ MPH when the "low tire pressure" light came on. So we moseyed over and stopped to check it out. It really was low, we filled it back up and made it to Dylan's parent's house without another issue. The good news? Thanks to our sweet little idiot light we didn't have a blow out! That is good news! But it gets better! Since that tire went completely flat, and like I said we had to deal with replacing it, we made a few calls. Discount and other places said they'd try to fix the flat one, but a new one would clock in around $180. Then we kept searching the listings and found a local little mom and pop that had a used tire in good condition that matched the other 3. $30 out the door. BOOM!
They didn't even take more than 15 minutes putting it on! After that, we hit the beach!
The very first thing that caught my eye was this hilarious golf cart
that had been done up to resemble a classic mustang.
Check out their little dash dancer
Hah!
~aaah~ Seal Beach, how we love thee!
Our time out on the surf was a hoot, we splashed around, played in the sand, I even fell down in the waves! Classic beach antics. Once dry and a safe distance from water damage I took out the ol' camera.
I miss it already!
A sunny day out in the waves gets you good and hungry for some brunch! We decided on the little Vietnamese restaurant that's been on the Seal Beach strip for years, but it was our first time eating there.
Mmmm mmmmm Thai Tea. It was so sweet it may as well have been a milkshake, hey, it was Vacation!
This dish was amazing. Those are pretty much fried spring rolls (dare I say, double fried?) and they have chicken in them! So you take one of those fried beauties, wrap it in a lettuce leaf, add all those tasty pickled veggies and a sprig of basil, dip that in the sweet vinegar sauce and automatically enter heaven.
Add to that a cold noodle bowl with grilled shrimp, and you are living the dream!
We hit up a few shops, did a little window shopping, and a little actual shopping...
We found our people ...
This sign outside of a male clothing store just cracked me up. They should just make a giant neon, blinking arrow that says "HIPSTERS! SHOP HERE!"
And of course, she sells sea shells by the sea shore!
(Holy crap it's as hard to type as it is to say!)
ooooooooooooo
Actually, we didn't buy any of the things I took pictures of. What we did buy was some Seal Beach swag and a few delicious tasties from the Temecula Olive Company store. OH! And some cake from Jill's Bakery!
VACATION!!!
We purchased 1 Cheesecake Brownie and 1 slice of Marble Cake. They were as beautiful as they were delicious! But we didn't eat them until later. Before we left the beach we hit up one of the bars at the very end of the strip.
It had a fantastic view of the water
Plus, Vacation Moscato!!
California grown, you can't say no!
On our way back to the car we ran into a friendly man and his two parrots just along for the bike ride
There was one on the front of the bike too, I swear it. I only managed to snag a photo of this little guy though. This reminds me! Why on earth didn't I get any pictures of Dylan's mom's bird Bongo?! Dangit.
I've gotten off track. Moving on! That night we enjoyed some burgers and we split the cheesecake brownie 4 ways.
Not a bad way to spend a Friday.
Saturday was a bit of a free-for-all. On our way out to Universal Studios we saw a store out in the distance called "Halloween Club." The O was a Jack-O-Lantern. It was calling me! We hit the internet, found a location (it turns out this magical place is a chain!) and made our merry way to the Costco of Halloween.
You think I'm kidding? Check this place out!!
Then you get inside! Walls and walls of nothing but Halloween!
Check out all of their masks!!
And costumes you didn't even know existed!
I liked this giant spider they had
I also loved the really campy decorations
CREEPY STATUES!!
Look at that creepy zombie mom and baby in the center. I didn't go near them. I didn't trust them. She was going to talk or lunge or something. I wasn't having it.
SO MANY PUMPKINS!!!
Then of course some fun with masks
Our haul included:
Cartooney eyeball glasses for Dylan's costume this year
1 3' poseable skeleton
1 hanging spider victim for our giant spider web
AWESOME little chotchkies that I don't want to say because they may or my not be gifts...
1 movie poster, I know, I wasn't expecting that either. Haha, it's for Bladerunner. Not even a horror flick.
Turns out Halloween hunting makes one hungry. We turned to an LA local and dear friend for ideas on where to meet for a bite to eat. We met up with him at House of Haden, we hear it's a popular haunt in Long Beach. We caught up over some drinks, then headed down the street to a famous fish joint (or at least that's what Mark tells us) for some much needed lunch! The selection at King's Fish House was fantastic. We gorged ourselves on a couple of different kinds of oysters, some sushi, crab cakes and even ceviche. We tooled around with our buddy Mark for a little while longer, and headed back over to House of Haden.
House of Haden is a fun bar, there was some lovely artwork right outside the door
Depending on where you're seated in the bar, Dr. Evil's up over head. He's in an astronaut costume and looking down at you, making sure you're partying correctly.
The vacationing does not end here my friends, oh no. We had a date back at Dylan's folk's place.
A date with steak.
Tender, juicy, delicious prime rib steaks. Served alongside a baked sweet potato and even a salad made from fresh veggies out of their garden right outside the back door. Are there any better vacation eats than that? Well, yes there are. Dessert, my friends. Dessert.
I was far too busy gorging myself to take any photos of the steaks - nor did I manage to get a shot of dessert. But that won't stop me from telling you all about it! Remember that Marble Cake we got at the bakery by the beach? Yeah. We had that - but not just that. Dylan's mom made home-made cream cheese ice cream.
Home. Made. Cream. Cheese. Ice. Cream.
(I'll just let that sink in for a moment.)
It was so beautiful, I can see it in my mind! Why oh why didn't I get a photograph of that loveliness?! Oh.... right because I wanted it in my face ASAP. Sorry guys :-/
Stay Tuned for Vacation Recap Part III!
