day 1.

I left Des Moines after maybe two and half hours of sleep on American Airlines headed to my layover at Dallas/Fort Worth. After almost an hour of monovouring through the ginormous airport-really things are bigger in Texas-I made it with 30 minutes left of my hour and a half layover to my C25 terminal. I was left with enough time to purchase a snack and get some strange looks for knitting. It was extra amusing to me for some reason. Upon finding my seat on a much larger plan than the previous I discovered I was sitting next to a man in a Bear sweatshirt that inconveniently was bigger than the seat he purchased. I spent the three and a half hour flight leaning towards the aisle and getting the crap beaten out of my right arm for it. I especially liked the sweat mark I got on my leg from his being right up against mine. Let's just say I didn't feel so guilty when I bumped him a few times when I moved. I never got a change to use the middle arm rest, so while I was awake my arm spent a lot of time in the air holding a book open so that I could read it without being hovered over the table tray.
THEN I arrived in sunny Burbank California. I exited out of the rear of the plan and had to decide whether I wanted to save my hat or flash the workers...I saved my hat. Cody and Rose were there to pick me up and it was wonderful to see them. I really miss having them around all the time and secretly hope they decide to move back to Iowa some day and open a restaurant-mostly because I will have job security, he he. We went directly to Venice Beach where we were bombarded with the chance to get a legalization card for marijuana. Things have changed on the boardwalk since I was there last and every other store was a tattoo shop, head shop, or legalization center. I did manage to find a really fun bag and was fairly satisfied with the purchase. Last time though I think I spent about $150 and got a lot of wonderful things. From there we went to this amazing seafood restaurant Enterprise Fish Company. We got an appetizer of spicey callemari and I got the Red Snapper with a baked potato and steamed vegetables. I've never had snapper and was very pleased with the choice. I was also very pleased with the price of our meals-which was just as much as a meal at Red Lobster, but deliciously fresh!
Following our beach adventures of shopping and food we headed back to Antelope Valley. I slept the entire was and managed to get another hour of sleep. Then spent time seeing my cousin's friends, who I adore, and resting. I spent the evening at my Aunt and Uncle's in Tehachapi, which is in the mountains-I wasn't anticipating how cold it was going to be either, but the mountains are so beautiful!
Day 1: SUCCESS! Pictures to come.