throngs of people entering the park. Just inside the park, Katie spotted our first and only star during our entire trip to LA. There was a crowd of people gathered and a camera crew nearby and just as we were wondering what all the commotion was for Katie spotted the back of Jay Leno's head. We think that he was doing a Jaywalking segment or something. Regardless, we snapped a quick photo for proof, then moved on. The rest of our day was pretty typical for a visit to Universal Studios; filled by hours of entertainment in the form of 3D rides and live performances. We did every ride and saw every show, even doing a few things twice. Our favorite was the
Simpsons Ride, a virtual roller coaster that was shockingly
lifelike. We also took the famous Studio Tour and rode rides with themes such as Shrek, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2 (staring the Governor), The Mummy, Waterworld, and even walked through Haunted House. Before we left the park, we stopped by at the Simpsons ride to visit the Kwik-E-Mart where I picked up a Duff
energy drink for the ride home. I couldn't resist the authentic Duff can and had to have at least one sip from it. By the end of the day
we were both happy to sit in the car and endure the evening traffic for a bit. We met Steve back at the hotel room and instantly set out for dinner. We drove around the Torrance / Redondo Beach area in search of a Thai restaurant that Steve had visited during one of his first visits to the area. Though we were unsuccessful in our search, we did end up at a Thai restaurant all the same. This place met and exceeded all of our wildest dreams both in terms of food and price. We ordered 2 appetizers, a bottle of wine, and each had and entree for just over $50. Again we headed back to the hotel room with a couple of beers and spent the rest of the night reveling in each others company. The next morning Steve cleared out for work again bright and early while Katie and I slept in. We had no where to be today and still weren't entirely sure of our plans, so we figured there was no need to rush things. It was the day before Thanksgiving and we both weren't sure where we wanted to spend Thanksgiving Day itself. We still wanted to make one more trek down to San Diego in order to visit the Stone Brewing Company and see Salvation Mountain and Slab City just east of the Salton Sea. We thought that we could accomplish all of these feats in one day, then spend Thanksgiving Day in San Diego with my cousin Jim. We headed south to Escondido where Stone is located and ate an amazing, though overpriced, lunch. The Stone Brewery is a bit of an anomaly. Its logo is a gargoyle which is draped all over their beers and throughout their brewery creating the rough, rigid, ambiance that goes along with gargoyles. Their most widely distributed beer, Arrogant Bastard, boasts of being aggressive and states on the bottle "You're Not Worthy" all adding to this tough facade. As you step through the entrance of the brewery however, it is as though you were transported into a five star restaurant. Though gargoyles still surround you, the setting is now elegant and elite, feeling very out of place featuring such bold beer. Both Katie and I thought that Stone screwed up by taking this route. They had so much potential to have an awesome brewery setting but in our eyes fell short, though the beer is still undeniably good. When we got back in the car and looked at the clock we realized that we had wasted too much time this morning back at the hotel. It was already 3 p.m. and it would be dark now by the time we got to Salvation Mountain, so it was pointless to even attempt the trip. Instead we headed for San Diego hoping to get ahold of my cousin and spend the night with him. In order to waste
some time before Jim got off work, we headed to Cabrillo National Monument which is located on Point Loma overlooking Coronado and San Diego. This is the first National Monument at which Katie and I were unsure if this place needed to be classified as such. The area housed the first lighthouse in the area and was apparently the landing spot of the first explorers to San Diego, but when visiting the park these elements seemed obscure and lacking information if not downplayed. It seemed that most people there were either visiting tide pools or else enjoying the views of the setting sun and the panorama of San Diego rather than focusing on its history. In any case, we stayed here until the park closed at 5 p.m. then headed over to Jim's house where we hung out with his girlfriend Patty until Jim came home from work. That night we all headed down to the Gaslamp Quarter and spent the night at an Irish bar called The Field which featured live Irish music all night long. Thanksgiving Day we all woke up a little worse for wear and spent the morning lazily watching football and the Thanksgiving Day parade. Around 2 p.m. Jim and Patty had reservations for a Thanksgiving feast and they left about an hour before to
make the reservation. Katie and I followed soon after and made our way to Salvation Mountain. Along the way we had planned to
stop at Subway and get a turkey sandwich or something, but every place we looked to stop at was closed for the holiday. Instead we opted to feast on our own supply of peanut butter, cheese-itz, and granola bars on the way into the desert. We got to Niland about an hour before dark which gave us just enough time to walk around at Salvation Mountain and drive through Slab City. For those of you who don't recognize these names, they were made famous in the book and subsequent movie "Into the Wild" as the onetime home of the main character
Christopher McCandless. Salvation Mountain is a giant hill made out of mud, straw,
and lots of paint. It was made and is maintained by Leonard Knight who is a permanent Slab City resident. Though we were not lucky enough to meet him on this trip, we were greeted by many of his signs of welcome and love entreating us to explore the mountain to its fullest. We both climbed to the top and even explored what looked to be his home on the side of the
mountain. Afterwards we headed into Slab City, and old WWII marine barracks which is now just a large collection of concrete slabs that people have made their homes on and dubbed it "the last free place on earth." We drove around hoping to see some of
the residents together celebrating Thanksgiving but either because it was too cold or because they don't have much to be thankful for out there, no one was around. We made our way back to the main road and headed north toward the interstate. Along the way, we were roped into a Border Patrol
Station located near the center of the Salton Sea. Though our road did take us within a mile of the Mexican Border, we never once crossed its bounds and had no idea why we were being forced to stop. After watching them pull over the semi in front of us, we pulled forward with an ominous "here we go again" feeling. The patrol stopped us as they walked a dog around our car then asked us to pull over. We did without complaint then the officer came and told us that his dog had found either smuggled humans or drugs inside of CJ and this was our last chance to tell him the truth. We did, saying we had nothing of the sort, then we were asked to get out of the van and sit outside in the freezing cold while this guy ran a dog inside and out of van for 15 minutes determined to uncover whatever we were hiding. We sat outside and got to talking with the other patrol officers who all were very nice compared to our accuser. About the time my teeth began to chatter the guy with the dog muttered "clear" under his breath and we again left another unprovoked invasion of privacy without so much as a "sorry" or "thanks for your time." Luckily, the odor from our dirty cloths and sleeping bags could not get any worse with the addition of dog to it, so once we hit the road and let the windows down a touch, we were back to normal in no time. We made our way to Palm Spring and after driving around for a bit, found a theater that was playing Harry Potter 7 and spent the rest of the night at the movies.
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