Borke Comes to Town!! Part One.

Nothing like having your friend call you from the airport at midnight, ready to be picked up, only to go out to your car and find that it won't start. Yea. Great way to start a vacation. Luckily for me, I have a doll of a roommate who helped me out and chauffeured me to pick Kristin up. That didn't solve the problem of the dead car though. What was really unfortunate was the fact that my car was parked on the side of the street that was going to get street cleaned the next morning. Street cleaning = big fat ticket. That was all the motivation I needed to get my car started. But start it would not. Last week when my my car did the same thing and wouldn't start, AAA came out and pounded on my starter and it started right up. He told me sometimes te starter just gets a bit stuck. Nothing like a little wack to get you going. So he showed me what to do and I thought, "humm....well, that's a bit ghetto, but okay." I mean really, anything to save me from having to take my car to the mechanic. As papa knows best, he told me, "Kara, sounds like you better get your car in before it decides to not start somewhere you don't want to get stuck at." Yea yea yea. I thought as long as I could just give it a wack, that would be a few less bucks I'd have to spend. Only once last week did I actually get in my car to not have it start. So I had to jump out of the car, pop the hood, wack the starter a few good times, jump in the car, start the car, then hop back out of the car, run to hood, close the hood, jump back in the car, close the door, then drive off quickly hoping nobody saw what I just did. From there I drove immediately home, not wanting to risk that again. So yea. Next morning, first day of Kristin being in town, we get up bright an early to take care of my car. I again call AAA and this time have them tow my car to the shop. Now, being semi-new and all to LA, I didn't have a handy mechanic I trusted on speed-dial. Here we come across my next dilemma. Who the hell do I have my car towed to!! Well, after a bit of research on Yelp. com, I decided on Ed Little Auto Service. After getting my car towed, Kristin and I had to get ourselves to the mechanic. Here starts the adventure. Thankfully, Kristin is a truly patient friend and put up with all of my shenanigans. Thank you, Kristin.

Which brings us to our first photo. Kristin at the Culver City bus stop. Yes folks, it's true. Kristin and I spent the whole day exploring the great city of LA by bus. It wasn't so bad really. It was kinda fun. I think Kristin might even agree. By no means was it a horrible experience and it saved me the headache of having to drive. Anyways, this photo is the first leg in our great journey. Here we are heading towards the mechanic.

Well, we made it to the mechanic and after he dropped the bomb on how much it was going to cost me, I went on a mission to find the part myself, to help reduce the cost. Here I am in Pep Boys, where I found what I needed for less then half the price. This face came after the sales boy told me they didn't have any in stock at their particular store and that their store in Westchester, 20 minutes away, had one. I wanted to ask the guy how long that would take walking, but I bit my tongue. To say the least, I put the mechanic Bob, and Kristin, through quite the ordeal. In the end, and 2 hours later, I got the shop to lower the price $50 bucks and I just had them do it.

After leaving the car at the shop to get worked on, Kristin and I were back off on our adventure. Here is Kristin waiting at the bus stop that will take us on the next part of our journey.

Opps, we had to transfer buses. Kristin, again, being a real adventuress at yet another bus stop. By this point we were getting real hungry and couldn't wait to arrive at our first destination of the day.

Finally, we made it to PINK'S!! Pink's hot dogs, featured on the Food Network and famous for their HOT DOGS! Yep, hot dogs. It's totally ridiculous, besides being known for their dogs, they must also be known for the line you stand in to get the dog. I've been here three times now and the line is always the same.

After standing in line for 35 minutes, we finally got to enjoy our hot dogs. Kristin got the hot dog with mushrooms, swiss cheese and mayo. Mayo??? Ugh. I got the Jim Morrison veggie dog with guacamole, tomatoes and onion. Yummy!!

After filling our tummies, we headed into Hollywood to do the ever popular Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Here stands Kristin at a statue like thing. Sort of a "Welcome to Hollywood" type object. However, I think it gets overlooked most the time. Besides, the homeless guy with a James Earl Jones type voice saying, "Welcome to Hollywood" was more entertaining.

Me, as usual, posing next to inanimate objects. One of my most favorite things to do.

Kristin being adorable.

Me trying to be adorable, only to have my crack hanging out the back of my pants. That's what you get for wearing low-riders.

The revised version of the above photo. I made Kristin re-take the picture after I saw the above results. I originally would have deleted the first picture. But in an attempt to get some laughs, I chose to post it. Kristin did a lovely job covering my bum this time.

From Hollywood, we hopped the metro link to Union Station, in downtown LA. This was my first recollection of ever riding Los Angeles version of a subway. It was......interesting. Wouldn't you agree, Kristin?

We made it! Theme for this picture: hands on your hips.

Kristin outside of Union Station.

From Union station we made our way over to Olvera Street. A street the tourist books describe as, "a pedestrian marketplace bursting like a pinata with Mexican knicknacks." I think that's a spot-on explanation of the place.

From Olvera Street we walked two blocks to China Town. With it being a weekday, and nearly sundown, the activity level was low and the shops were starting to close up. I think we saw everything we needed to see within the few minutes we chose to stick around.

From China Town we hopped on the bus to 5th and Broadway where the Downtown LA Art Walk was going on. Having never been to the art walk before, I had no idea what to expect. However, I know that downtown LA isn't the greatest place for two young women to be walking around, especially after dark. When we got off the bus, I think we were both surprised to see so much activity. It was a blast. There were people everywhere, music blaring out of the different galleries, and security outside every gallery.

Kristin inside one of the galleries. This particular gallery had some neat art. Other galleries had some not-so-neat art, and others had some controversial art that made you tilt your head and say "hummm.......", but the architecture of the old buildings were great and gave me something to look at!!! In one particular gallery I had this guy come up to me and ask where I got my jeans, with fancy jeweled, back pockets. He said he thought his sister might like them. (WHAT A PICK UP LINE!!) Me, being ever so proud of my bargain finds, replied, "on the street corner of a farmers market for $2! Quite a bargain, huh!?!" I give the guy credit for originality, but really??After this guy made some poor attempts at striking up a conversation, and me, not having it, I politely replied, "Okay, nice talking to you, Bye." And headed straight out the door, with Kristin in tow. Shortly thereafter, Kristin and I were leaving a book store and this same guy was near the door. He turns toward me and says, "fancy running into you again!" Yea right, like it was coincidence or something. BLAH!!

Just a building that I fancied for the different graffiti on the fire escape.

That was the end of our Friday. After a very full day of exploring LA, by bus, we were even too tired to stop and get dinner. Lounging at home in our sweats won us over, so we opted for Mac and Cheese in a box from the grocery store and called it an evening.

Gracie took quite a liking to Kristin while she was here. Here she is helping Kristin check her e-mail. At one point she laid her whole down across the key pad and wouldn't let Kristin type. She's NEVER done that to me before!! Sniff Sniff.

Saturday: Kristin and I got up early and headed to my favorite little breakfast joint called The OP Cafe. It's a quaint little restaurant that doesn't hold many, but they've got great food and a breakfast menu for only $2.99. Fun and delicious way to start your morning!! After breakfast, Kristin, Gracie and I headed up to Malibu for a day of hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains. We stopped along the way to watch the surfers and enjoy the view.

Gracie smiling big for the camera.

Walking along the shore. The black dots in the ocean are the surfers.

Kristin and Me.

From the parking lot to the trail head we had to walk a short portion of the road, the above house, or more appropriately called estate, is just one of many we pasted by. This thing was HUGE!!!

At the start of our hike.

One of the many, many stream crossings we had.

Kristin on a power hike.

A "senior-photo" type moment gone bad. A possessed Gracie in the background.

Me showing-off my Jackie Chan like moves.

There were some pretty steep hills to climb to get to the top.

Some portions we kinda just scooted on our butts.

Tiny fall in the background.

Hanging off a tree.

At one point I thought I was going to roll off the side of this steep hill.

Thankfully, I didn't.

It would have hurt.

And I probably would have peed myself laughing.

The waterfall at the top was totally worth the hike.

Gracie had quite a spurt of energy and managed to fall into the water. Unfortunatly, I missed getting that on film. Here she is getting back across the water.

Check back soon for:

Borke Comes to Town!! Part Two.