Spades

I'm not sure of the expression, if it's "Everything's coming up aces," or if it's roses, or what, but today, everything was coming up spades. The parents and I took a trip to Catalina, and we arrived much earlier than necessary, so we wandered around taking pictures of container ships being loaded in the harbor. We boarded and were underway at around 12.15, arriving at the island about 1.25, that being the earliest ferry we could get on short notice. The plan was to meet up with Jernej in Santa Monica around 6ish, so we were scheduled for a 3.45 departure, leaving us minimal time for exploration.

After hopping off the boat, we strolled into town, foraged for something quick to eat, and waited for a tram to take us up to the botanical gardens Mum was eager to see. The gardens themselves were not that impressive, consisting mostly of various cacti, and other dryer climate flora, most of which were an unexciting brown. Because of the tram schedule, we only had about a half an hour to explore, but, as it turned out, the garden grounds weren't that large, anyway, so the timing worked out fine.

When we arrived back at the ferry terminal, we went to the car to find that we'd been blocked in. I had parked it in an area directly beneath a bridge, which, we found out later, was under construction. This area had barricades on three sides, and a large container on the fourth, with a narrow gap between it and another barricade, which is how we got into the area. Two cars had parked in the opening, and a third had parked right behind those, effectively blocking our route of egress.

We talked to the parking structure manager, who was helpful in getting the harbor police to assist us. Still, we waited until about 8.30 to get out of there, missing Jernej's party completely. We headed north to Downtown, where we changed in the car to meet the Edison's strict dress code.

Ordered a Spot Weld - gin, kahlua, vanilla bean, and tonic. Also a burger. The waitress came back and said they didn't have either. Nuts. I had a Dark & Stormy instead, and sliders, both of which were pretty good, but lesser substitutes. Polished off the remainder of my Tesla Fries with a Scharffen Berger Napoleon. Food, delicious, and delivered quickly. Drinks, also delicious, but our server was a little slower than the kitchen staff.

After dinner, we headed over to the opening of the Comme des Garçons party at 4th & Main, only to find that they were done for the night. Went next door to Bar 107 to await Jed's arrival (he'd been dj-ing the event), then decided to turn in for the night. We ran into him outside, chatted briefly, and went back home. So, Jernej's was a bust, as was the CDG party, and at the Edison we managed to get the last three seats in the joint, but the food options didn't quite work out. That after an evening spent waiting in a parking lot, on the one day while they were here that I was totally free. Annoying. Unlucky?