Arriving in Los Angeles / Pasadena

There is nothing quite like flying into Los Angeles. I was lucky enough to have the window seat today. The sight of those massive freeways snaking across the city, and those massive interchanges, is incredible from high above. Because we were in a smaller plane, our approach to LAX went right past the airport, looking down on it, then we took a steep turn to come in and land. We also got to see the Hollywood Sign really clearly through the left side which was great.

Landing and fetching our luggage was a breeze, the airport was really quiet because of flight disruptions caused by Hurricane Sandy on the eastern seaboard.

We made a beeline for Hertz where our car waited. We did a kiosk check-in, where you stand in front of a kiosk, holding a phone handset, and talk via webcam with a Hertz representative somewhere. The process was quick and seamless and all our paperwork printed on the kiosk.

Once we walked across the lot, we found a big van in the spot where our car should be. The car was nearby, and too small for us and all our luggage. Helen went back inside to do some sweet talking, and next thing we got a free upgrade to the van. Woo hoo! The van is a huge eight seater and has doors that slide open and closed at the push of a button. It also has a special mirror so the driver can keep an eye on the "kids" in the back. In our case, the "kid" is 83 years old.

 
By now it was after 3pm. We hadn't eaten since 7am, but were keen to get to our hotel in Pasadena before traffic got to busy on the freeway. Although not peak hour(s) it was still pretty heavy and with much stop/start. It took about an hour to get to Pasadena.

Pasadena is a nice area, very clean in the main areas (just don't venture too far into the back streets) and this is the view straight across from our hotel room.

While Helen checked in, I perused the pamphlets in the lobby, looking for dinner. I found a single, well used menu for a place called Robins Wood Fire BBQ. Bring it on! As soon as we dropped the bags, I dialed up Robins on the GPS. This meant another short and busy freeway drive. Robins was great, a real authentic BBQ joint, and the food was delicious! John wimped out and had a salad (but helped Helen anyway), I had pulled pork and Helen had ribs. We arrived starving, and left waddling out the door stuffed.

Too early to retire, we went to a local WalMart (see tomorrow's blog post for details) then went home to bed.