So two weeks ago for work, myself and two other coworkers were sent down to Los Angeles for a week-long seminar to learn more about how to improve the maintenance and reliability of commercial aircraft. In addition to the seminar, we were able to do some sightseeing and roamed around after each day’s activities were finished, roughly around 4:00 p.m. each day. Some of the events were sponsored by our host, others were our own interests. The following is a brief photo diary of some of our adventures:
We arrived early on Sunday and had plenty of time before checking into the hotel. After getting the rental car, we had brunch along Santa Monica Boulevard at Jinky’s Cafe. (My coworker was in first class on the plane ride over and already had breakfast while I was pretty hungry at this point) Their menu was enormous with almost anything you could ask for. After a quick brunch, and still with much time to kill, we decided to take the scenic California Highway 1 down the coast and check as many of the beaches as we could.
On Monday, we went driving around again, this time back up Highway 1 and with another coworker. Some of the highlights were walking along Hollywood, eating at a fancy sushi place called Katsuya, and looking at the nice houses along the Venice Canal Historic District.
On Tuesday, our host sponsored a trip down to Huntington Beach. Specifically on Tuesdays, local artisans and peddlers setup shop along the downtown Huntington district. Homemade artwork, candles, hummus, and various sales on surfer wear were abundant. As the sun set, we headed on to Duke’s Restaurant which had a great selection of seafood and offered a nice view from our table.
On Wednesday we went down to Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, and stayed there till around 11:00 p.m. My dream of riding Space Mountain is finally complete. Between all the rides and looking around, we ate fillet minion at Catal Restaurant located in Downtown Disney.
Next, on Thursday, we were given a private tour and divulged in a banquet on the Queen Mary. From here we concluded the majority of the week’s formal activities and were given our certificate of completion of the seminar. There were again raffles and I was able to luckily win a camping blanket.
Friday, the conference wrapped up around noon with the last two seminar presentations. Finishing a bit early, we decided to take a short trip down to San Diego for some more sun and fun (but not before trying out In-N-Out). After driving around a bit after dark and quickly cutting through downtown, we headed back to LA.
Saturday, we wrapped up the trip and headed down to Little Tokyo to try out a famous ramen and noodle shop called Daikokuya, which was rated as the Top 6 restaurant in the US by Yelp in 2011. By 11:00 a.m. when it opened, there was already a line out the door waiting for people to get in. Shortly after lunch, it was time to head to LAX (luckily traffic wasn’t bad) and fly 3.5 hours back to Memphis…
Overall, it was a very good trip, which I was very fortunate to experience. 9/10 would go to Southern California again in a heartbeat.
Greg's Logbook 