Last weekend we drove to Los Angeles for a mini vacation.  I didn't even notice that from 1PM Thursday to midnight Sunday I didn't read one email or look at one website.  How crazy is that?  I would have guessed I'd have a little withdraw.

I did indulge my crafty self a bit by going to Kinokuniya (my favorite Japanese bookstore).  As usual, I found a book I couldn't live without ... but I DIDN'T buy it.  What is wrong with me?  I think all the sunshine went straight to my brain.  I'm going to try and find it at the SF store.

We don't usually take a lot of photos of each other on our vacations, but this vacation has the distinction of only having this photo of my legs and another of our reflections to even prove we were there.

Not that this photo proves anything.  But, see, that's sunlight, and we don't get much of that around here in San Francisco in the summer.  Ha!

We stayed right downtown and I really loved it.  Everyone was SO NICE - seriously super-nice.  Random people on the street were nice and told us about cool things to do around LA.  All our waiters and waitresses were nice ... and GOOD.  A lady at the 7-11 wearing 4 extra layers of clothes and a winter coat said, "Excuse me, we're you here first?" to us when the cashier asked who was next.  Even now, I'm stunned.  It was like being in Canada.  It was THAT kind of nice ... sincere nice.

I also learned something from one of these nice people; I learned  what "marine layer" means.  I'd heard it on the news the night before.  Apparently, in LA, they can have air come in from the ocean or from the desert.  When it comes in from the ocean, it's moist and called a "marine layer" and it hovers over the city making it hazy (almost like smog).  When it comes from the desert, it's called a "Santa Anna" and it clears away the moist haze and you can see forever.

Usually, I crave the routine and the familiar, but I really loved this little road trip.  Exploring LA for a couple days was a treat.