Brian & Jill's Excellent Adventure

Brian & Jill came to Los Angeles to visit for a few days. Their visit began with good food, we ate a lot of good food throughout their visit, and we ended with good food. In between all of the eating, we did manage to squeeze in some fun adventures as well!

Howards Hamburgers

Venice Beach

La Brea Tar Pits

Trader Joes

Farmers Market

Bobs Donuts

Pollo a la Brasa

Santa Monica Pier

Cirque du Soleil

Hollywood

Kodak Theatre

In-N-Out

Jay Leno Show

Baby Blues BB-Q

Pinks Hot Dogs

Warner Bros. Studio Tour

Thththtaaat's all, folks!!

It Never Rains in California *People Notes*

Rain? What rain?! Not here.

Hard to believe our four months in Los Angeles is coming to an end. And it really doesn't ever rain here. Ever. We have been taking advantage of the cool mornings, low altitude and flat streets to get in plenty of runs. We bravely participated in the Long Beach half marathon (no, not brave enough for the full marathon!) and we both survived.

Paul absolutely had a phenomenal performance coming in at 2:02 (yes, that is two HOURS!!) and I was only mildly deflated to see the first, second and third place marathon finishers cross the finish line right in front of me. For a moment I thought all those people were cheering for me! Not too bad at 2:17, but how on earth did those marathoners run 26.2 miles in the time it took me to go 13.1 miles?

It was a great course along the beach, the waterfront villages, the Queen Mary and the Long Beach harbor areas. There were over 20,000 participants and it was incredibly crowded. Best part (other than finishing alive) was the free cupcakes and beer after the race. Sounds disgusting now, but trust me - it was the best beer & cupcake I have ever had!

Of course, we have also taken advantage of the nice weather to enjoy the beautiful beaches here as well. Manhattan Beach is spectacular, Venice Beach is crazy, Long Beach is exciting, Santa Monica Beach is fun, and the Malibu beaches along the Pacific Coast Highway are gorgeous. Odie is not fond of the big waves here on the Pacific Ocean, but he does love chasing the seagulls and playing in the sand. His most recent beach adventure was at Leo Carrillo State Beach north of Malibu.

Ahhhhh...love these beaches!

It Never Rains in California...

...at least it hasn't rained in all the months we have been here. One day it drizzled and it made the whole city smell like a wet dog. I liked that.

I have been busy walking the city streets and going on training runs with my people. Always plenty of new streets and smells and sights and sounds to explore. I still don't like the big city busses or the street-sweepers or the trash trucks or the utility trucks or the fed-ex truck or the motorcycles or the trailers or the moving trucks or the UPS truck...other than that, I think I have adapted just fine to city living.

Uncle Brian and Aunt Jill came for a visit all the way from Texas. I like them a lot, but I don't like their cats Simba and Nala and I was glad the cats didn't come with them. I remember those cats from when we visited them before and the cats locked me in the backyard and wouldn't let me inside. Stupid cats. Simba weighs 24 pounds - that is exactly twice as much as me! Yikes!

We went to the dog beach in Malibu for a day of fun in the surf, sand & sun. It was great, but I don't understand why I always have to take a bath after spending the whole day rolling in the saltwater and sand and seaweed. Don't these people understand that it is hard work to smell like a dog?!

I have been noticing boxes and suitcases appearing again...does this mean there is another road trip in our future? Hooray! I love road trips!! I will keep you posted (haha - get it...'posted'? Like 'posting' on a blog? Like a blog 'post'! haha - I crack me up).